The family of Abdullahi Charif, a 12-year-old boy who drowned last year in a St. Louis Park middle school pool, has reached a $3 million legal settlement with the school district, the family's attorneys said Thursday.
Charif's family filed a personal injury lawsuit last May seeking damages for the drowning. Abdullahi was found floating in the deep end of the school pool on Feb. 27, 2014. He died a few days later.
At the time of the drowning, the gym teacher, James Bigot, was supervising 28 children in the pool, including Abdullahi, whom he had earlier described as not knowing how to swim.
Charif's death prompted several Minnesota school districts to re-examine their swimming pool safety policies. Most schools require that a lifeguard or a certified water safety instructor be on duty when students are swimming. But beyond that, policies varied widely.
Last year, Minnesota legislators considered a measure that would have required public schools to provide swimming lessons for all K-12 students. The measure never passed, drawing opposition from districts concerned about costs for new staff, transportation, pool rental and pool upkeep.
A Hennepin County attorney's office investigation found that Abdullahi and other boys in the class were roughhousing in the pool, where they would take turns knocking each other off an inflatable raft.
Students told investigators Abdullahi was knocked off the raft and took a belly flop in the deep end. After the class was over, Bigot found him floating and tried to revive him.
"The result of all of these failures was as predictable as it was tragic," said the family's attorney, Eric Hageman. "Pools are dangerous places for nonswimmers, which is why we require teachers who supervise children in pools to follow basic safety rules. If the rules were followed here, this tragedy could have been avoided."
