A 7-year-old Forsyth County boy died in an apartment complex pool after his father pulled him out of the water, investigators said Monday.
Stephon Alston, of Cumming, was in the Centennial Apartments pool in the Windermere neighborhood Sunday afternoon when his father stepped away and went to a restroom, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said.
"When the father came back, he saw his son's swim suit at the bottom of the pool and then realized that his son was not resurfacing," Karleen Chalker, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said in a news release Monday. "The father then jumped into the pool and pulled his son out."
The boy's father, whose name was not released, had apparently stepped away from the pool to wipe off his face after being pushed into the water, Chalker said.
Stephon was pulled from water between 3 and 5 feet deep shortly after 3 p.m., Chalker said. The incident remains under investigation, she said.
Others at the pool began performing CPR on the child until deputies arrived, following by firefighters. Paramedics took over life-saving efforts and transported the boy to Northside Hospital-Forsyth, where he died, Chief Jason Shivers with the Forsyth County fire department said Monday afternoon.
Stephon's death in a presumed drowning is the first this summer in a private pool in Forsyth County, Shivers said. The county's firefighters routinely assist with water-related incidents at Lake Lanier, Shivers said.
The boy's water-related death was one of two Sunday in metro Atlanta. A 55-year-old man died while using a paddle board on Lake Acworth, according to police.
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