WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: All but One Defendant Dropped from Drowning Suit

All but One Defendant Dropped from Drowning Suit

By Joanna Gaitanoglou
joanna@wlbt.net

Testimony continued Thursday in the trial involving a nine-year-old boy who drowned at the Farish Street YMCA on July 13, 2001. Three of the four defendants have been dropped from the lawsuit: the YMCA, the TV-3 Foundation, and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director Frank Melton.

Melton was serving as a volunteer at the Y when the drowning happened.

"This isn't about money," Melton says. "This is about finding out what happened to Perrize."

The former trial defendant says he doesn't know how nine-year-old Perrize Washington drowned at the YMCA pool. Melton says he was serving as a volunteer at the Y that day but says he was not assigned to the pool area. Melton says he did walk by the pool and noticed what was going on.

"The only thing that I saw when I walked through the pool on two occasions was that all of the kids were going through water drills in the shallow water," said Melton.

During the trial on Thursday, an aquatics expert testified that the water was murky at the time Perrize drowned. Melton says that's not true.

"I was able to see black lines," said Melton. "I was able to see the drain just by walking through."

It's also been stated that there could have been up to 175 children in the pool at the time of the drowning. Melton estimates there were about 60 kids in the pool.

While two non-profit organizations have been dropped from the lawsuit, there are still concerns about the how this trial, nationally televised on Court TV, will affect non-profits in the future.

"That may indeed be something that is discussed in board rooms of charities throughout Jackson, the state, and the nation since it was broadcast all over the country," said Charlene Priester, the attorney for the non-profit TV-3 Foundation, which gave money to the YMCA.

Melton says he doesn't think the trial will affect volunteerism, at least not for him.

"I intend to give more to the YMCA. I intend to give to the Bethlehem Center," said Melton. "Mr. and Mrs. Washington intend to do the same thing to make sure this doesn't occur again."

The YMCA and TV-3 Foundation have also been dropped from the lawsuit and settled with the Washingtons. The amount of the settlement has not been disclosed.

The Bethlehem Center, the local daycare facility in which Perrize Washington was enrolled, is still listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. On July 13, 2001, the daycare center brought about 30 children, including Perrize, to the YMCA pool on a field trip.