An afternoon school-sponsored pool party ended in tragedy when a 13-year-old boy drowned due to improper lifeguard scheduling and failure to provide CPR when necessary. The representing attorneys in this heart-rending wrongful death case were Rahul Ravipudi and Robert Glassman of Panish Shea & Boyle LLP. Knowing the impact visuals would have on the jury, Attorney Glassman called upon DK Global to produce a presentation that would depict what transpired in the lungs of the young boy.

The presentation began as a 3D character model with a similar likeness to the child. This depiction presented a transparent segment that focuses in on the lungs. Switching back to the surveillance footage, the young boy can be seen swimming one moment and shortly after, signaling for help. Unfortunately, help does not arrive, and the young boy begins slipping under the water. Attorneys Ravipudi and Glassman utilized DK Global’s animations to illustrate how the throat spasms in an effort to seal off the lungs and prevent water from entering. Eventually, without the ability to breathe, consciousness is soon lost.

A person can roughly go without oxygen for up to six minutes before the possibility of brain damage occurs. Surveillance footage shows how the young boy goes unnoticed in the water for several minutes before fellow classmates pull him up. Shortly after, student lifeguards are seen coming to aid the child. However, rather than performing immediate life-saving measures, the lifeguards keep the boy floating on a backboard on the surface of the pool. By the time paramedics arrive, the child had been without oxygen for almost nine minutes. If life-saving efforts had been taken immediately, the possibility of the boy surviving would have been much higher.

DK Global successfully provided 3D animations and medical illustration elements to portray the quick effects drowning can have on the body. Attorneys Ravipudi and Glassman fought hard for the deserved justice in this case and secured an $11 million settlement on behalf of the boy and his family and are working with local legislature to create a water safety bill in the child’s name.