Puerto Rico Police reported that a 15-year-old boy was found dead in a plastic backyard pool in the Jardines del Caribe neighborhood of Ponce. The incident was reported around 8:58 p.m. Monday via a 9-1-1 call for a medical emergency.
According to police, when units arrived they found Emergency Medical Services paramedics trying to stabilize the teen, who had been pulled by his parents from a plastic pool about three and a half feet deep located behind the residence. He was taken to the emergency room at Hospital Damas in Ponce, where the attending physician certified he had no vital signs. Captain Daniel Justiniano, director of the Criminal Investigations Corps (CIC) in Ponce, said authorities will await the forensic investigation to determine the cause of death.
He noted that preliminary findings do not show elements of a crime related to the case, but explained that in all cases involving the death of a minor, protocol requires an investigation to rule out any negligence or abuse.