Records reveal how violence at Pittsburgh pools prompted chaperone policy

A fistfight among dozens of teenagers, the use of pepper spray and threats with a gun were among a string of violent incidents at Pittsburgh public pools early this summer that raised serious security concerns among city officials, according to documents obtained by TribLive.

The incidents, not previously made public by Pittsburgh officials, spurred a new chaperone policy at Highland Park Pool, the city’s largest, that bars those 15 and younger from entering the pool without an adult 21 or older.

The policy took effect June 22, a day after a major brawl at the Highland Park pool, and additional security measures were implemented at several other pools throughout the city.

Pittsburgh opened 15 pools on June 15. Within a week, leaders in the Department of Parks and Recreation were working to address concerns from pool patrons and employees about violent incidents at Highland Park and at two North Side pools, Riverview and Sue Murray, records provided Friday through a Right-to-Know request revealed.

Parks and Recreation Director Kathryn Vargas in a June 20 email to police Chief Larry Scirotto said workers and patrons felt unsafe at Highland Park Pool after unruly teenagers led to its early closure on three out of the first four days it was open this summer.

The next day, Vargas wrote in an email, a group of 60 to 80 unsupervised teens began fighting just outside the pool gate.

“Other patrons had to be ushered out the emergency exit gate on the other side of the pool,” she wrote in a message to other city workers.

Police came and broke up the crowd, she said.

Later the same day, a second altercation at Highland Park Pool ended with a girl being pepper-sprayed by another pool-goer, according to Vargas. Police returned to the pool, which was then closed for the day.

At that point, Vargas said, a police officer suggested implementing a requirement that teenagers be accompanied by an adult.

A June 20 complaint from a pool patron through the city’s 311 system made a similar recommendation.

Even before the June 21 brawls outlined in Vargas’s communications, alarms had been sounded about safety at Highland Park Pool.

Shelley Terlecki, the city’s aquatics supervisor, in an email to Vargas several days earlier, said teenagers at the pool were not listening to lifeguards and were threatening city staff.

“We definitely need a police presence throughout the whole day for that pool to remain open,” she wrote.

Police currently conduct patrols at city pools every hour to interact with community members and support pool staff, Cara Cruz, a public safety spokeswoman, said Friday.

Emails from city leaders also indicate that police escort pool cashiers when they make their daily bank deposits.

When the city first implemented its chaperone policy at Highland Park Pool, Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey, said it came in response to worries about the number of unaccompanied minors at the pool. She said there had been disorderly behavior and physical fights at the pool.

Cruz on June 28 told TribLive there had not been any incidents that had “risen to a criminal level” at city pools yet this summer. She was not immediately able Friday to provide details about how often police had been called to pools this summer.

There was no mention of arrests in any of the communications obtained by TribLive.

Highland Park Pool wasn’t the only one plagued with problems within days of opening for the summer.

A June 20 complaint received through the city’s nonemergency system alleged that a group of kids beat up and attempted to drown another child at Sue Murray Pool in the city’s Allegheny Center neighborhood while lifeguards did nothing to stop it.

Two days after pools opened, Terlecki emailed Vargas about a threat reported the day prior at Riverview Pool in the city’s Perry North neighborhood.

The pool’s head lifeguard said a 17-year-old boy told lifeguards there that a group of kids threatened to jump him. The boys allegedly showed him one or more guns stashed in a bookbag at the pool.

The boy also had a bruise on his stomach from where they had hit him, the head lifeguard wrote.

The boy’s father, she said, complained about the lack of security or metal detectors at the pool.

“The staff now feels very uncomfortable returning to work tomorrow,” Terlecki told Vargas in an email that included the lifeguard’s message.

In response to security issues, the city hired a private security firm, St. Moritz, to provide additional protection during peak times at Ormsby, Bloomfield, Sue Murray, Riverview, Jack Stack and Highland Park pools, Montaño said.

Highland Park Pool was the only one to implement a chaperone policy.

Montaño said the reason the new policy affects only Highland Park Pool is because it’s the busiest.

Last year, that pool saw over 33,000 patrons. The next most-used pool was at Moore Park in the city’s Brookline neighborhood, where 13,000 swimmers visited last summer.

“The chaperone policy really is to assist the guards in being able to manage the pool area and keep their eyes on the water,” she said.

In an email to Montaño shortly after the chaperone policy was put in place, Susan Lucas, a Parks and Recreation spokeswoman, said the new requirement — along with a stronger police presence — seemed to be curbing fights at the pool.

Related:

• 15 Pittsburgh pools on deck to open for summer, 3 to stay closed

• Kids 15 and younger need adult supervision at Highland Park pool

• Staff concerns at Highland Park pool spurred new chaperone policy