Near-drowning in Lynbrook village pool

Three-year-old Lucas McNally of Lynbrook was rushed to Winthrop University Hospital after he was found unresponsive at the bottom of the village pool in Greis Park on June 23.

According to Lynbrook police, Susan Malcangi, a registered nurse and a family friend, brought Lucas and her two children to the complex that afternoon. At around 4:15 p.m., after eating at the food court, Malcangi’s children went to the pool, and she brought Lucas to the sprinklers and then to the kiddie pool. Police said that she told him she was going to check on the other children, and instructed Lucas not to leave the kiddie pool area. When she returned, however, she could not find him.

In the meantime, according to the police report, Christine DiPaulo found Lucas at the bottom of the adult pool, not moving. She carried him to the edge of the pool and shouted for a lifeguard.

A lifeguard came over to assist, police said, as did Mary McKenna — also a registered nurse — when she heard a woman shouting, “I have a drowned kid here!” A man was attempting to give Lucas mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, according to police, but McKenna noticed that Lucas was blue in the face, so she picked him up and performed a Heimlich maneuver.

By then Malcangi had noticed the crowd at the deep end of the pool and hurried over, police said, and she helped McKenna begin CPR on Lucas. After additional stomach thrusts and back slaps, Lucas vomited water and then began to cry, the police report stated.

Lynbrook police officers who had responded to the scene administered oxygen to Lucas, and a Lynbrook Fire Department ambulance took him to Winthrop Hospital at 4:28 p.m. McNally’s parents were in the ambulance with him.

“There were plenty of lifeguards at the pool at the time of the incident,” Recreation Director Pat McDermott said. “[There were] more than enough on duty.”

According to Lynbrook Village Administrator John Giordano, there were eight lifeguards working.

Lucas was released from the hospital last Friday afternoon.

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