Family Of NJ Brothers Who Drowned In Pool To Sue For $100M: Reports

NEW JERSEY - The family of two brothers who drowned in a lifeguarded school swimming pool earlier this month sent two precursor lawsuits to the city, county and state, as well as school officials, reports said.

The family of Jack Jiang, 16, and 19-year-old Chu Ming Zheng, both of whom drowned June 8 at the Lincoln Community School pool in Bayonne on June 8, have since filed two separate $50 tort claims, NJ.com reported.

Tort claims are a precursor to a lawsuit that must be filed within 90 days of an occurrence in which a claim against a public entity is made.

Alongside New Jersey, the city of Bayonne and Hudson County, the tort claims were also sent to Bayonne schools superintendent John Niesz, the Board of Education and Lincoln Community School principal, NJ.com reported.

The family’s attorney Daryl Zaslow of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow LLP told NJ101.5 that the family is still awaiting results of the drowning investigation conducted by the school district and city.

Per conversations Zaslow’s team had with "experts in lifeguarding and aquatic safety," the attorney maintains that the drowning should never have happened, the publication reported.

"This is not a situation in which kids snuck into a closed pool in the middle of the night and somebody drowned. There were supposed to be three lifeguards on duty. It is impossible to come up with a situation in which two children die in a situation like this one when lifeguards are on duty," Zaslow told NJ101.5.

The circumstances that led to the drownings still aren’t immediately clear. Witnesses and the three lifeguards on duty told police that they saw both victims in distress at the deep end of the pool. The three lifeguards entered the water as the teens were unable to resurface, authorities said.

A younger sibling was at the pool but wasn't involved in the drowning or in distress, said Bayonne Police Cpt. Eric R. Amato.

The lifeguards removed both victims from the pool and immediately began lifesaving measures as the 911 call was placed. The Bayonne Police Department received the call at 10:23 p.m. and got to the pool two minutes later, Amato said.

Officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel also assisted in CPR and other lifesaving measures when they arrived, according to the Bayonne Police Department. Officials took the victims to Bayonne Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.