JUPITER, Fla. — Investigators continue to look into how water at a Harbourside Palace fountain became charged with electricity, causing a Jupiter father to be electrocuted last month.
The police report said the company that maintained the fountains does not work on the electrical aspects of the fountain.
In Florida, fountains are required to pass an inspection when they are built. After that, maintenance is up to the owner.
One nationally known attorney said that needs to change.
"Absolutely," Atlanta-based attorney Yehuda Smolar said when asked. "It should all be regulated. We're dealing with children. No matter how much you watch a child, they will find a way to get into something."
When Smolar learned of the electrocution in Harbourside, he thought back to a civil case he tried in 2012.
He represented the family of a 19-year-old Georgia woman who died when her 3-year-old son tossed a ball into a fountain at a state college.
When she reached into the water to get the ball, she got a shock of electricity that killed her.
WPTV found deaths and serious injuries from electric charges in fountains in four states in recent years.
Jupiter
Witness details trying to find power shutoff in Harbourside Place electrocution
Smolar said many get shocked by just dipping their hands into water fountains and never report it.
"It is probably more common than we think. It happens a lot," Smolar said. "A lot of the time people are lucky."
With restaurants, used cars at the time of purchase, elevators, escalators, and amusement park and carnival rides are subject to regular inspections under Florida law, Smolar hopes last month's tragedy in Jupiter will lead to more states mandating the inspection of fountains.
"No child should have to grow up without a parent," Smolar said. "No parent should have to miss out seeing a child grow up because they tried to save the child and died."
Right now, it is still up to property owners to inspect and maintain their fountains,
In the police report on the Harbourside Place incident, an owner of the company that maintained the fountain said its work only consisted of "brushing, netting, and treating the water with chemicals."
