A woman drowned just feet away from passersby and other swimmers in a gym pool in Las Vegas, USA, captured in a chilling video.
KLAS reported the incident occurred on Feb. 4 at the North Decatur Las Vegas Athletic Club’s (LVAC) pool, where Letica Triplett, 58, entered for a morning exercise.
Triplett swam and kicked her legs while holding onto the pool wall for nearly 25 minutes. According to Oganna Brown, an attorney representing LVAC, Triplett had arrived at the gym on crutches before entering the pool.
While gripping the wall, Triplett appeared to cease kicking and struggling, her head going underwater briefly before using the wall to reach the pool stairs just a few feet away.
During this struggle, several people were swimming or walking alongside her in the pool, seemingly unaware of her distress.
Attempting to climb the pool stairs, Triplett grasped the handrails but slipped back into the pool, continuing to struggle as her head went underwater again.
Triplett remained motionless in the pool for approximately 10 minutes, with people seen walking and swimming near her body, apparently unaware of her unconscious state.
After another 10 minutes passed, a swimmer in an adjacent pool finally noticed Triplett’s body and jumped in to pull her to the edge, where a group of people gathered to assist.
According to a Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) investigation report, an LVAC employee emerged from a nearby locker room to join the group with Triplett’s body within a minute.
Bystanders performed CPR for three minutes before paramedics arrived. Triplett was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Brown described the incident as unique, emphasizing LVAC’s decades of operation without such an event: “In 46 years, there has not been a drowning event. This is an anomaly, and this was not a direct drowning event. This was a cardiac arrest.”
However, the SNHD investigation noted a near-drowning occurred a few days after Triplett’s death.
Joel Henriod, an attorney representing SNHD, argued that without a physical lifeguard present, customers should not have been responsible for rescuing Triplett: “If it’s not their job to be looking, unfortunately, you might as well be alone.”
See video below:
