(USNewsMag.com) – The family of Aliyah Lynette Jaico, 8, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Houston, Texas, hotel after she died in the hotel’s swimming pool.
On March 23rd, the family rented a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow to enjoy a day of swimming. According to the lawsuit, Aliyah was swimming in the lazy river with her family around 4:50 p.m. when she disappeared suddenly. When she could not locate her daughter, around 5:20 p.m., her mother, Jose Daniela Jaico Ahumada, asked hotel management to review video surveillance footage. The mother’s request was denied by hotel management, who said in order for her to view the footage, police would need to be present. At 5:45 p.m., her mother called 911 and reported Aliyah missing.
When police viewed the video surveillance footage, Aliyah was seen going under the water but never re-emerging. The pool was drained by Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch and Recovery, who inspected the pipes using cameras on 20-foot poles, finding Aliyah’s body inside one of the pipes. Miller said the incident “was almost unbelievable.”
According to the lawsuit, one of the pipes in the pool malfunctioned, sucking water in instead of pushing water out, causing Aliyah to be “violently sucked” into an “unsecured open gap” in the lazy river.
It took the Houston Fire Department 14 hours to recover her body from the pipes.
The attorney for the family, Richard Nava, said, “This could have been avoidable,” adding that the hotel was running “an establishment with many violations.” The family is seeking $1,000,000 in damages in the lawsuit.
In a statement, a Hilton spokesperson expressed condolences for the loss of Aliyah. However, according to the statement, a third party owns and operates the property, and the statement directed people to contact the third party’s attorneys at Trent & Taylor, L.L.P.
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