A 56-year-old man who drowned in the backyard swimming pool at his North Babylon home on Wednesday night may have suffered a “medical event” before he died, Suffolk County police said.
Thomas Romanello was found unresponsive by his wife and daughter in the four-foot above ground pool at their house on Dollard Drive at 6:35 p.m., police said.
A neighbor helped pull Romanello from the pool and perform CPR before the victim was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he was pronounced dead.
Homicide Squad detectives believe Romanello, who was wearing swimming trunks, may have been cleaning the pool to close it for the season, noting that there was a vacuum in the pool.
Investigators believe the death to be non-criminal. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office will perform an autopsy to determine cause of death.
