PHOENIX — Darryl Blackmon was celebrating: the 13-year-old football player from Colorado had just won a championship game in a tournament in Phoenix 28-0 and was hanging out at a hotel pool near 24th Street and Thomas Road with his teammates.
His mom, Marquita Mays, walked across the street to grab some tacos for Darryl. She was gone for 10 minutes.
Mays got back to the hotel to find it filled with emergency personnel attempting chest compressions on her son, who was unconscious at the side of the pool.
"We think that it won't happen to us because that's just the way the mind is," Mays said. "But things happen so fast. And then it's too late."
Darryl was in a coma for three days before he died on May 31, 2022. In the two years since her son's death, Mays said she has gotten no answers from the hotel or Darryl's football team, the 5280 Jr. Buffs, as to what happened during that 10 minutes.
"I lost my son thinking that he was safe with his football family," Mays said. "It wasn't safe. He wasn't protected. It's not like I went to a club. It's not like I abandoned him. I just went to get him food."
Mays said she attended games during the fall season after her son's death, but once she stopped going to games, no one reached out to her anymore.
"They would speak and ask me how I'm doing, things like that.," Mays said. "But it was never like, a support, get what I'm saying?"
Since her son's death, Mays has been fighting for answers — a fight that has led her to court.
Mays filed a lawsuit against the Jr. Buffs for negligent conduct and training, and she is also suing one of the coaches on claims of fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
James Anderson, Mays' attorney, said the head coach provided them with an "insurance certificate that appears to have been fraudulently altered." He added there was no reason for the coach to do something so "outrageous," and it added insult to injury.
"It really is a preventable tragedy. It was completely avoidable. The organization could have done a much better job supervising the children," Anderson told 12News. "We're hopeful for Miss Mays' edification that we can get those answers for her by bringing this lawsuit."
Mays has also been fighting to spread awareness about her son's death and the need for parents to educate their children on water safety. Darryl never learned to swim because their family didn't go swimming, Mays said, and as a young, single mom, she didn't realize just how important swim lessons could be.
"I never thought that it was that important when you don't go swimming a lot," Mays said. "But it's so important. Because it just takes one time."
Mays started a foundation in her son's name and is working to provide swim lessons to families starting in the fall.
"I hope that this will save another child and protect them and save another parent from going through the nightmare," Mays said. "Because it's one that you never wake up from."
Drowning Prevention Tips:
Drowning is the leading cause of death for children between ages 1-4 aside from birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three children die every day as a result of drowning. Here are some tips from the CDC on how to protect children around water:
Learn life-saving skills.
Everyone should know the basics of swimming (floating, moving through the water) and CPR.
Fence it off.
Install a four–sided isolation fence, with self–closing and self–latching gates, around backyard swimming pools. This can help keep children away from the area when they aren’t supposed to be swimming. Pool fences should be completely separate the house and play area from the pool.
Life jackets are a must.
Make sure kids wear life jackets in and around natural bodies of water, such as lakes or the ocean, even if they know how to swim. Life jackets can be used in and around pools for weaker swimmers too.
Keep a close watch
When kids are in or near water (including bathtubs), closely supervise them at all times. Because drowning happens quickly and quietly, adults watching kids in or near water should avoid distracting activities like reading books, talking on the phone, or using alcohol and drugs.
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