Fall River police Lieutenant Roger LaFleurcqsaid in a statement that officers responded to Veteran’s Memorial Swimming Poolcq at Lafayette Parkcq at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday and pulled Joseph from the water. She was taken to an area hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
Edward M. Lambert Jr.,cq commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, cqwhich operates the pool, said yesterday in a statement that all 30cq of the agency’s deepwater pools will be closed for 24 to 48 hourscq while investigators review safety procedures.
High temperatures around the state will range from the high 70s to the low 80s today and tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton.
Gregg Miliote,cq a spokesman for the Bristol district attorney’s office, said in a phone interview that “passers by” walking by the pool late Tuesday night spotted Joseph’s body floating in the water.
Fall River Police Chief Daniel Racine said during a news conference yesterday that a 9-year-old boycq that Joseph was watching at the pool on Sunday told police she had an accident on a water slide.
Racine said the boy stated that “Marie unexpectedly slid down the slide landing on top of him. He further stated he believed Marie went under the water and did not surface.”
“We’re not certain about anything other than the fact that we have a death and that this person was at the pool, and what took place with respect to the slide,” said Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Suttercq, who was also at the press conference yesterday. “Everything beyond that is absolutely under investigation.
“We do have a tragic death. And it does appear [that] it took place Sunday afternoon at some point.”
He said the sequence of events after Joseph went underwater and did not resurface was unclear.
“Exactly who the boy spoke to and what that person did and what happened next, this is the beginning stages of the investigation,” Sutter said.
Miliote said Joseph’s death did not appear to be suspicious. The cause of death is unknown pending an autopsy by the state medical examiner.cq
