A 6-year-old drowned. A lawsuit accuses 3 people of negligence

A lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses a babysitter and two Las Vegas homeowners of negligently causing a boy’s death in a swimming pool late last year.

Anthony Jackson Jr., 6, attended a Labor Day pool party at the home of Spencer and Annie White on Sept. 3. Because Hilary Candler, Jackson’s mother, had to work that day, she asked her friend, Joe Beth Cassell, to drive her son to the party and act as his babysitter.

Neither Cassell nor the Whites adequately supervised Jackson, who was found “face down in the pool” shortly after the boy and Cassell arrived at the party, according to the lawsuit.

Cassell and the Whites could not immediately be reached for comment.

Seeing Anthony unresponsive in the pool, Cassell and Spencer White tried to revive the child with CPR. After that failed, they drove him to University Medical Center, where he died six days later.

The lawsuit alleges that Cassell failed “to provide adequate supervision” of the boy. It further claims that Cassell “knew of the hazard and dangerous condition presented by the pool.”

The Whites are charged with negligently failing “to exercise reasonable care concerning the dangerous conditions” at their home, and with failing to “ensure” their their home and pool were “safe” for Anthony.

Candler is represented by Lisa A. Rasmussen of the Law Offices of Kristina Wildeveld & Associates.

Candler hopes “her tragic loss will serve as a reminder to people who have children and people who have pools to safeguard children at all times,” Rasmussen said. She also said Candler hopes “that no other parent would have to go through what she and her family have gone through since [her son’s] death.”

While the complaint currently seeks just over $50,000, Rasmussen said Candler “will be utilizing an expert” to determine the final “computation and assessment” of monetary damages in this case.

Contact Peter S. Levitt at plevitt@reviewjournal.com.