The family of Demetreous Beals — who drowned last year in Lake Banook — plans to sue the city, saying it should have locked up the beach at night.
In a notice of intended action filed May 22 at Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Alanda Beals claims the city didn’t take “any reasonable precaution” to restrict access to Birch Cove Park.
“The failure to restrict access … created a dangerous trap that (HRM) ought to have taken precautions to prevent,” lawyer Sean Layden writes in the notice.
Layden says the city should have locked up the beach when lifeguards weren’t around, or posted signs telling people not to swim unsupervised.
On June 27, 2007, Demetreous Beals and two friends went to Birch Cove at 8 p.m. The Dartmouth teen swam to a wooden platform 125 metres away from shore and then drowned.
The suit claims an unspecified amount of damages on behalf of the teen’s estate, including funeral expenses.
Demetreous left behind his mother, his father, Otis Williams, and his grandparents, Lavone and Joseph Beals — all of whom miss him, the documents state.
Demetreous won a citizenship award in 2005 when he fought for improvements to his neighbourhood playground. He was an eighth-grade student at Bicentennial Junior High.
The city has not yet filed a defence.
