Newmarket Olympic Pools: Police investigate after 9-year-old dragged underwater

Police are investigating an alleged assault on a 9-year-old boy in a public swimming pool.

Mike Zhang yesterday said his 9-year-old son clumsily bumped into an adult at Newmarket’s Olympic Pools and Fitness Centre yesterday at about 4.25pm while swimming in the lanes.

The adult responded by grabbing his son’s leg and pulling him underwater, Zhang claims.

Police said they can now confirm they are investigating a “report of an assault at an address on Broadway, Newmarket, on Monday, December 18”.

“The incident, at a commercial address, was reported to have occurred between 4.15-5pm and was reported to police around midday on Tuesday, December 19.″

Police said they are making enquiries to establish what happened.

Zhang, meanwhile, said his son panicked when dragged under the water.

“My boy was shocked and panicked, he drank the water and choked, started coughing,” he said.

“My boy struggled and swam back to the poolside still coughing and started crying.”

The incident comes as the Herald and Water Safety NZ are again urging Kiwis to stay alive this summer after there were 94 preventable drownings last year.

There’s also been tragic water-related deaths at Auckland’s Narrow Neck Beach, Hawke’s Bay’s Ocean Beach and Auckland’s Rothesay Bay recently.

Nicky Tyrrell, general manager of the Olympic Pools and Fitness Centre, said he does not “tolerate any abuse” at the pool, and is taking the matter “extremely seriously” and supporting Zhang and his son.

Zhang said it’s lucky his son is a really good swimmer and only choked on the water because he was shocked.

“[But] if some other kids are not that good at swimming, they might get seriously injured by that dangerous behaviour. It’s completely unacceptable,” Zhang said.

He said the incident took place when his son - who was the faster swimmer - tried to overtake the adult but accidentally bumped into him.

Watching the incident unfold, Zhang went to the adult swimmer once he reached the poolside and asked him why he did it.

He claimed the man started to swear at him and his son, saying: “My ‘f***ing boy’ blocked his way, he couldn’t enjoy swimming. He only ‘grabbed my f***ing boy’s leg and didn’t even punch him’, why should I get so upset”.

Zhang said he took police action because while his son is a top swimmer in his age group, he doesn’t want to see other kids who aren’t as strong in the water get hurt, especially if this happens in the ocean.

Auckland father Mike Zhang has called for calm after he alleges an adult dragged his son under the water at The Olympic Pool and Fitness Centre in Newmarket. Photo / Google

“Holiday season has started, if somebody behaves like that in the public pools, some kids might get seriously injured or even get killed,” he said.

“I need people to know this, this behaviour is not acceptable.”

Tyrrell said yesterday his team also acted immediately to calm the “heated” situation on Monday.

His lifeguards didn’t see the moment the boy’s leg was pulled, said Tyrrell, who wasn’t on duty at the time.

“But Chris, who is a senior lifeguard, quickly went to Mike, his son and the customer,” Tyrell said.

“Chris said that things were very heated, and he immediately asked the customer to leave the facility.

“This person made a complaint to our front desk about ‘slow swimmers’ in the fast lane.”

Tyrrell said yesterday he now plans to speak to the adult swimmer and has removed his access to the pool until that occurs.

“We do not tolerate any abuse in our facility, and this matter will be dealt with in an extremely serious manner,” he said.

“With serious incidents we need to follow up with both parties before making a large decision.

“It is very much my intention to revoke access for the man involved for unnecessary physical action in our facility.

“As I said, we do not tolerate this behaviour at all, there is no one strike, two strike policy.”

Tyrrell said he and his team had been speaking with Zhang and his son to support them and make sure they were okay.

“We hope that Mike’s son continues to swim and enjoy our pool, and that they see the seriousness of our actions as a statement of our health and safety precautions.”