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Central Islip girl, 2, drowns in backyard pool

BY KEITH HERBERT | keith.herbert@newsday.com

7:59 PM EDT, July 3, 2008

A photo of Jennasia Dominick, 2, sits on the front steps of her home in Central Islip on Thursday. (Newsday / Ana P. Gutierrez)

Residents of the 100 block of Applegate Drive in Central Islip weren't planning big July Fourth celebrations Thursday.

Neighbors like Elmer Contreras said a party was the last thing people on the stretch of ranch-style homes were thinking about.

On Wednesday night, 2-year-old Jennasia Dominick died at Stony Brook University Medical Center after she had been found earlier in the day floating in an aboveground pool in the backyard of her home at 117 Applegate.

Contreras, 27, who lives across the street, recalled Jennasia as a happy little girl who had bonded with her community despite the brevity of her years.

"I would see her playing every day," he said.

Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said Jennasia's death was apparently an accidental drowning, though the tragedy remains under investigation.

At about 1 p.m., Jennasia and a 9-year-old sibling were called into their home for lunch by their mother, police said.

At some point, Jennasia left the kitchen and went into the backyard. Police found a lightweight, plastic lawn chair near the pool.

"It's possible she pushed that chair over there and used it to get into the pool," Fitzpatrick said. "At the moment, it certainly looks like a tragic accident."

Police are focusing on about 15 minutes in which the four adults and a 15-year-old inside the home were unaware of Jennasia's whereabouts. The pool's ladder was up, and the pool was surrounded by a fence. It met the town's safety regulations, police said.

On Wednesday, Contreras recalled hearing a commotion starting a little after 1 p.m.

"I heard everybody yelling and screaming after they found her in the pool," he said.

Contreras said he and his wife went outside, crossed Applegate and tried to help.

"My wife was doing CPR with the baby's father," Contreras said Thursday, holding their son, Bradley, who is 15 months old, in his arms.

"It was scary," he said.

Jennasia is the third child on Long Island to drown since the water-recreation season began. On June 2, a boy, 11, drowned in a Brentwood swimming pool. And last week, another boy, 14, drowned after jumping into water off Long Beach to cool off with friends.