Drowning at Las Vegas gym pool caught on camera — VIDEO
The surveillance camera video of the February drowning of a woman in one of Las Vegas Athletic Club’s pools has been released and provides more clarity on how the death occurred.
Leticia Triplett, 58, drowned on Feb. 4 in the pool at LVAC’s North Decatur location. The video released Wednesday by the Southern Nevada Health District shows Triplett entering the pool area for a morning exercise. She was in the pool for about an hour before she was pulled out by other members of the gym.
The video is redacted and only shows where Triplett was in the pool. Her face is blurred, and so are the faces of other people in the pool area.
The sister of Triplett, Margaret Gonzales, said she hasn’t and doesn’t want to see the video.
“Losing my sister has been incredibly difficult,” Gonzales said in a statement texted to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Watching this play out in the news is like reliving that horrible day again and again. We want this to stop so that we may grieve in peace and privacy.”
Lawsuit over lifeguards
The video release is part of a months-long fight between the LVAC and the SNHD over a requirement to have lifeguards on duty to monitor gym pools. In June, the health district ruled that LVAC and other gyms are required to have lifeguards in their pools, citing, in part, Triplett’s death.
Before this ruling, LVAC was granted a variance that allowed for remote monitoring of its pools.
LVAC has pushed back against hiring lifeguards for all its pools, saying the pools are private and aren’t required to have lifeguards. The company has said it would be too costly to hire enough lifeguards to keep the pools open.
LVAC has sued the SNHD over its ruling and has proposed that, instead of hiring lifeguards for every facility, the company can create a pool monitoring room that is staffed by a lifeguard and will have constant video surveillance of all LVAC pools and a intercom system. The lawsuit is ongoing.
What does the video show?
The released video shows Triplett entering the LVAC pool just after 8 a.m. on Feb. 4 and swimming for a few minutes. She then rests at the edge of the pool, swims for another short period and rests again for about 30 minutes. She then starts kicking her legs and goes near the stairs to apparently try to get out of the pool.
While near the stairs, Triplett begins thrashing around and struggling to stay upright in the pool for about three minutes, after which her body goes still.
It takes about 10 minutes for another member to notice Triplett. One person then jumps in the pool to bring her to the side and gets help from several other LVAC members and staff to pull her out of the pool. It then appears chest compressions are performed as soon as Triplett is pulled from the pool.
Triplett is pulled from the pool at roughly 9:10 a.m.
Once Triplett is pulled from the pool, the video is redacted to not show exactly what’s happening, but it appears several people are walking in and out of the pool area to check on her.
The video ends before Triplett is removed from the pool area.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene, according to records from the health district.
In court documents, LVAC said Triplett suffered a heart attack in the pool. The Clark County Coroner’s Office ruled the death as a drowning and accident, and other factors in the accident were cardiovascular disease and obesity.
Health district records indicate Triplett was observed using crutches before entering the pool.
LVAC didn’t immediately return a comment on the release of the video.
Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.
