Whiteland High School drowning victim was under water 52 minutes, no charges expected

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Johnson County prosecutor announced in a press release Monday that no criminal laws were broken by school employees in the drowning death of a 15 year old student.

On May 16, Alaina Dildine suffered a seizure while in the high school’s pool, which resulted in her drowning. The coroner ruled her death as accidental.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department investigated with the Clark Pleasant School Police, the Whiteland Police Department, the New Whiteland Police Department and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

According to another press release sent out by the Johnson County Sherrif’s Department, the following information was obtained in the investigation:

• Swim Class begins at 9:37 am student enter the pool.
• Students are in the pool with an Instructional Instructional Assistant/Life Guard on duty and a Physical Education Teacher present.
• At 10:18 am the female student goes below the surface under the bulkhead that separates the swimming lanes and the diving well.
• Other students continue to swim and meet their class obligations.
• The class completes their time in the pool and they are released at approximately 10:30 am.
• The female student who went below the surface remains unnoticed.
• At 11:01 am the next class enters the pool area. A male student notices the student who went below the surface, at 11:10 am.
• At 11:10 am the Instructional Assistant/Life Guard enters the water and pulls the student out, and begins CPR. The Physical Education Teacher calls 911 and reports incident to school officials.
• The student went unnoticed for approximately 52 minutes.
• CPR ended at 11:47 am. The student is pronounced deceased.

The autopsy concluded the cause of death was drowning, history of seizure disorder and an accident.

“It is not the function of this office, however, to determine whether any negligence on behalf of school officials contributed to this tragedy. Such a determination would need to be made in the civil justice system. This accidental death is an unspeakable tragedy and this office expresses its sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the student,” Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said.