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CONNORCARES.ORG
Welcome to the Connor Cares Foundation website. The goal of this is to raise awareness for the safety of pools and try to reduce the annual numbers of drownings that occur.
February 6th, 2008 - The Connor Law
State lawmakers push for a bill to have more lifeguards on duty after a young boy dies while swimming in Anne Arundel County nearly two years ago.
"A 6 year-old spotted him, underneath the empty lifeguard chair," says Debbie Freed.
Her son, Connor Freed who was five at the time, drowned in an Anne Arundel County pool.
His family later won a $4 million judgement against the management company and are now trying to make sure another family won't go through their same grief.
Even though Freed was only five, his family said he had wisdom beyond his years.
"Everybody always said he was an old soul because he was just the sweetest boy. He put everybody ahead of him," says Debbie Freed, Connor's mother.
"If the chair had had a lifeguard, he would be here. I know he would be here," says Connor's mother.
That devastating event is what inspired Debbie and Tom Freed to push for "Connor's Bill".
If passed, all recreational pools, 25-hundred square feet or bigger, would have to have two lifeguards on duty at all times.
Nick Lolly, who manages about 200 pools in Maryland, says the price tag is worth it.
"When we're talking about businesses, we're talking about profitability. It shouldn't be in the same context of us talking about the lives of children."
The Freeds know it could still be an uphill battle but aren't backing down from the fight.
"It was a senseless waste. He was a beautiful child, a great person. He would have touched many other lives as he did our lives," says Connor's father.
A house subcommittee heard the testimony on "Connor's Bill" Wednesday and will now decide whether the bill moves forward
September 25th, 2007 - The Capital Gazette Front Page
Scott Doherty, The Capital Gazette, 9/25/07
Three minutes of inattention cost a 5-year-old Davidsonville boy his life and a Hunt Valley pool management company about $1 million.
A county jury yesterday ruled DRD Pool Service Inc. was negligent in the June 22, 2006 drowning of Connor Freed at the Crofton Country Club.
The jury ordered the company, which managed the club's pool that summer, to pay each of the boy's parents slightly more than $2 million in damages. State law, however, caps the judgment at about $1 million, attorneys said.
"Our son I know is looking over us today and smiling," Thomas Freed, Connor's father, said yesterday at a news conference in Annapolis.
He plans to put most of the money toward the Connor Cares Foundation, which is dedicated to preventing future pool drownings by creating stronger laws to regulate how pools are managed.
"We didn't do this for the money. We did this to bring this issue to the forefront so no other family has to go through this," Mr. Freed said.
September 24th, 2007 - Firm held liable for 5 year old's death
The parents of a 5-year-old boy who drowned in an Anne Arundel County country club pool won a $4 million judgment Monday against the pool’s management company.
Connor Freed died in June 2006 while spending a day swimming at the Crofton Country Club with family friends. His family claims D.R.D. Pool Service Inc., the pool management company, was negligent in not posting enough lifeguards and not sufficiently training the ones on duty.
The jury awarded $2,000,076 to each parent, after deliberating for three hours over two days. The $76 was apparently the jury’s way of remembering Connor, whose birthday was July 6.
“This jury verdict was very well thought out and they came to the right conclusion that the management of this pool failed miserably in guarding lives in the pool,” the family’s attorney, Gary A. Wais said.
He added that the verdict is one of the largest for a wrongful death suit in Anne Arundel County.
After applying Maryland’s cap on non-economic damages, the amount of the award will shrink to about $1.3 million, Wais said.
I've been updating the website with new information, and I will continue to do so as the weeks go on. Check out the Media/Articles section of the website to view the new
coverage from different papers, news stations and more.
We will continue to honor Connor through this foundation and I hope to be more focused on the charity now that the trial is over. I've also fixed the link for our PayPal account, I realized it has been down
for a while. So the "Make a Donation" button works again to your left, and also on the donations page.
June 27th, 2007 - Columbia, MD Drowning
On Tuesday just before 2pm, five-Year old Darren Powell of Columbia and a group from the Wilde Lake Junior Nature Camp were swimming in Byrant Woods Pool in Columbia. No one knows exactly what happened in the seconds Darren began losing control in the pool but when a life guard spotted the 5 year old, he was under 4 feet of water.
Police say the guard quickly scooped the little boy's body out of the water and swept his mouth. Darren began shallow breathing on his own but his condition remained critical. He was immediately transported to Howard County General Hospital but hours later he was airlifted to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Latoyia Newman works at a nearby day care and fears the life guards may be new, young and inexperienced. She tells ABC2 News, “When we were even in the toddler pool, if the kids ever fell in we got to the kids before the lifeguards did, every time."
Over the past eight months we have worked with state delegate, James King, in proposing legislation to promote pool safety. This is our first step into what we hope becomes a strong foundation for increased pool safety. If you have any further questions about the proposed legislation, please let it be known in our forum, or by e-mail and we will respond.
Follow this link to learn more.
October 7th, 2006 - First Annual Connor Cares Event
The first annual Connor Cares Foundation charity benefit went AMAZING!
Thanks to everyone for the support and making the kick-off event have such a
great turn-out.
Check out what appeared on the local news here and the new "Media" section of the website, including videos and articles.
Photos from the event have been added.
Keep checking the website for any future events or updates.
Scott Doherty, The Capital Gazette, 9/25/07
The parents of a 5-year-old boy who drowned in an Anne Arundel County country club pool won a $4 million judgment Monday against the pool’s management company.