Sorry, but a 3-year-old's horrific drowning death was not 'unimaginable' | Opinion
Contrary to what police say, Trigg Kiser's death is not 'unimaginable.' It's a damn nightmare, and it's about time every parent and grandparent started imagining it.
We interrupt our national fistfight over, well, everything to report that a little boy named Trigg has died.
The May 18 passing of 3-year-old Trigg Kiser made national news because his mother, Emilie, is what’s known as an influencer on Tik Tok. His death, we are told, is “unimaginable.”
But it’s really not.
We in Arizona aren’t shocked. At least, we shouldn’t be.
We can’t afford to be.
Drowning is the leading cause of death nationally in children who are 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 years old.
Pool safety for kids: If you don't have a fence, get one
Even more so in Arizona, where pools are plentiful and disaster mere seconds away.
Mere seconds, especially now, as summer approaches.
Thirty-one children drowned in Arizona in 2023, according to the latest report from the state Child Fatality Review Program. Most were under 5 years old.
Every one of those deaths was preventable. Every one, a damn tragedy.
It shouldn't need saying, but apparently, it does.
If you don’t have a fence around your pool or a net covering your pool, get one. It’s an investment you cannot afford not to make.
Child Crisis Arizona in partnership with Salt River Project, State Farm and the 493 Firefighters Foundation, offer free pool fences to eligible families.
Parents, learn CPR – and keep the pool gate closed
If you have a fence and the gate’s open, close it. If the latch is broken, fix it.
If you don’t know CPR, learn it.
And when your kids or grandkids are in or near the water, whether a pool or a bathtub, never look away. Not ever.
Of course, we in Arizona know all this, yet disaster continues to strike.
Trigg was pulled from a pool in Chandler shortly before 6 p.m. on May 12. Six days later, he was gone.
He is believed to be the first Arizona child to drown this year, according to Children’s Safety Zone, which keeps tabs on such horrors.
More kids besides Trigg Kiser will die this year. Prevent it now.
We don’t yet know the circumstances of his death, but we know this.
Trigg Kiser will not be the only Arizona child lost to water this summer, though most of the soon-to-die children will barely register a blip on our collective radar.
“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the child’s family and loved ones during this unimaginable time,” the Chandler Police Department said on May 18, upon Trigg’s passing.
Unimaginable?
No.
If you have a child or a grandchild, please imagine it.
Think, in vivid, vomit-inducing detail, what it would look like to find that son or daughter, that grandson or granddaughter, dead or dying in your pool.
What it would feel like.
In a second, a child can slip silently away, and it’s a second you can never, ever get back.
Laurie Roberts is a columnist for the Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @laurieroberts.bsky.social.