PALM DESERT: Four, including 2 children, hospitalized after hotel pool electrocution
PALM DESERT — Four people, including two children, were hospitalized after a freak, unexplained electrocution at one of the Marriott Shadow Ridge Resort’s pools, Wednesday, May 31. The resort and hotel where the incident occurred is at 9003 Shadow Ridge Road in Palm Desert.
Cal Fire/Riverside County firefighters and American Medical Response medics responded to the resort about 4 p.m., after a resort employee called 911 and reported to emergency dispatchers that several people had been electrocuted while swimming in the resort’s “Chuckwalla Pool,” one of several pools at the hotel and resort.
Eleven firefighters from two engine companies responded to the reported electrocutions, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Public Information Officer April Newman explained in an incident report after the incident. They were assisted by two paramedic squads.
When emergency first responders arrived, they located two adults and two children who reported being shocked while inside the pool.
AMR medics transported all four victims to a nearby hospital for further evaluation and treatment. Their injuries were described as minor.
“The cause of the electrical short was undetermined,” said Newman.
The hotel has closed the pool while officials work to determine the cause of the electrocution.
The cause of the incident is still under investigation.
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Trevor Montgomery runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News and Anza Valley Outlook and also writes for Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg and breaking his back in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 12 – soon to be 13 – grandchildren.