A vacation that was supposed to be fun and relaxing for a family visiting from Virginia— turned into a nightmare. The family’s 16-year-old son Cameron Brown drowned in their vacation rental’s pool.
It happened in Orange Park on Fox Ridge Road. The family who rented the home said because of this tragedy they want sites like Airbnb to disclose certain information.
Cameron Brown’s parents said if a person is going to rent a house with a pool, the owner needs to say how deep it is online. That way people would know if that house is suitable for them.
Brown’s parents describe their son as joyful, hardworking and got good grades. So, for Memorial Day weekend, when the teenager from Virginia wanted to visit Florida, the family rented a house in Orange Park.
It also had a pool.
Cameron’s mom, Paula, said on their first day, her son went into the pool and she started taking pictures of him.
“It was at his waist, then he walked over a little bit more and then it got to like his belly button and then he took one more step and then he just went under,” Paula Brown said.
Paula says she looked around for any life jackets or sticks to pull him out, but couldn’t find any. So, she jumped in to try and save her son.
She was unsuccessful, she then ran to the street screaming. Paula said she saw a man walking by who helped get Cameron′s body out of the pool. He was taken to the hospital—but died on May 26.
“We miss our son. We love him and you know everyday is rough for us to get through,” Marcus Brown said.
Paula says although her son couldn’t swim she never expected him to drown. She says when she was booking the home through Airbnb–the descriptions never said how deep the pool was.
News4JAX checked the app and we couldn’t find those details either. Because of this, Paula and Marcus Brown are trying to get the site to require specifications about the pool’s depth to be listed on their website.
“For me it was not enough information. My son would still be alive today if his mom or he knew how deep that pool was. If I knew how deep that pool was I just feel if you’re going to put your place out there for business I feel like you should want people to know what’s going on,” Marcus Brown said.
Curtis Fallgatter, a criminal attorney, said in cases where someone drowns at an Airbnb pool–the owner could be held liable.
He says under the residential swimming pool safety act, certain things need to be done–like putting a fence around the pool. He says a fence has to be separate from the one around the yard.
However, with Cameron being a teenager, this is where things could get tricky if the family tries to sue.
“Florida is a comparative negligence place, there could be some comparative negligence based on if the mom was supervising her son effectively enough as juxtaposed with the homeowner, corporation not having a fence around the pool,” Fallgatter said.
News4JAX did reach out to Airbnb to ask if owners have to post certain information on their website. We are still waiting to hear back.
We also messaged the host of Airbnb where the drowning happened and haven’t heard anything back yet.