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Witnesses said Asheley Brown, the victim, and her friend Ashley Latimer were dunking each other in the deep end of the community's pool. Tommy Scarponi, a Winona Lakes resident and 11th-grader at East Stroudsburg North, described the events.

"One of the girls (Ashley) came out of the pool and went up to me and my friend and asked if we could help her, in a really calm voice. She said 'I think my friend is drowning.' I said 'tell a lifeguard.' It's a shocking thing to hear that, and she was so calm, it was tough to believe," he said. Scarponi had just arrived at the pool with his sister Gina, mother Lisa and friend Josh.

Before Ashley could tell the other lifeguard, Tommy said Gina dove in the pool and grabbed Brown, who was floating upside down.

He said Gina guided Brown to the ladder, where one off-duty and two on-duty lifeguards arrived to pull Brown out.

Gina Scarponi said she jumped in to save Brown without thinking. "I saw her under there at the bottom of the pool. I didn't think if it was not real, I just needed to help her," she said.

Brown was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she was in critical condition, according to her father, William. He said the doctor's prognosis was uncertain.

The pool at Winona Lakes remained closed Tuesday and will be closed indefinitely, according to Winona Lakes board member and spokesman Jeff Reichl.

He said several board members have been out of town and will have to be consulted before any determinations are made.

"We are looking at it as an accident, but we are waiting for a police report and for the other members to get back," according to Reichl.

He said the board wanted to make sure they had a standard operating procedure in place for the lifeguards to follow. Reichl added the pool will not reopen until the board meets, which might not occur until next week.

The two lifeguards on duty at the time of the accident have been suspended without pay.

Community manager Bill Powell said the board was conducting its own investigation, and the suspension of the lifeguards was just a formality until all the board members are back.

Lisa Scarponi, Gina and Tommy's mother and also an eyewitness to the near-drowning, said three other teenagers at the pool who were acting erratically at the time of the accident may have distracted the lifeguards.

A previous story gave a different description of the details surrounding the incident based on an accounting given by the victim's parents.


See Gina's video description of the rescue at www.poconorecord.com

By HOWARD FRANK
Pocono Record Writer
July 02, 2008http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS/807020324