Authorities identify 4-year-old boy in drowning death

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Authorities continue to investigate the death of a 4-year-old who drowned on his second day of swimming lessons.

The boy was identified as Israel Scott. The autopsy revealed Scott’s cause of death was by drowning and determined the drowning was accidental.

No foul play is suspected or involved.

The investigation as to whether criminal negligence is involved continues, according to Burke County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jimmy Wylds.

Israel’s mother, Dori Scott, has discussed the matter on Facebook, offering some insights on what happened Tuesday at the residential swimming pool on Deer Run Road.

Even before the drowning, she posted photos Monday on Facebook, showing him and at least five other children near a pool and saying it was his first day of swimming lessons.

“He said he’s a little nervous,” she wrote.

“I signed my baby boy up for swim because he was just really starting to LOVE the water,“ she explained on Thursday.

“I chose who I thought would be a great fit for him to learn how to swim, but however, who would have thought this would happen,” she wrote.

In announcing the incident Tuesday, Wylds said deputies were notified around 11 a.m. that Scott had been found unresponsive.

Wylds said a nurse on the scene administered CPR and he was taken to a hospital. Deputies arrived after that.

As far as who else was on the scene when the incident happened, that’s among the information we’re not receiving from authorities yet.

Again, Scott offered some clues on Facebook:

“I of course did not want to leave him during the lesson but I followed protocol and waited in my car on my baby to be done,” she wrote. “I never thought that tap on my door would be one of the worse moments of my life.”

When we asked Thursday for an incident report, we were told it would not be released yet.

Perhaps more than anything else about the case, we know of Scott’s overwhelming grief.

“This pain I wouldn’t wish on my worse enemy,” Scott wrote. “To have your baby snatched away from you in a matter of moments is the worse thing in the world.”

Her posts feature heartbreaking galleries and videos of an energetic and happy boy.

“My baby was such a sweet, charismatic, loving boy, and anyone who met him, loved him,” she wrote.

She wrote that her life will never be the same.

“My heart has been ripped out of my chest! I can’t believe that I will never see my baby boy again. Cherish every moment with your babies and hug them tight because you never know. I would have never imagined that I would only get 4 years with my little man,” she wrote on Wednesday.

“I keep playing what I saw in my head and I have so many questions that still have not been answered,” she wrote Thursday.

“This is not okay! I am his mother and I am supposed to protect my baby. Lord, please give me and my husband the strength because this is hard.”

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