Toms River Woman Lied To Police During Pool Drownings Probe, Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River woman has been charged with lying to authorities during an investigation into the drowning of two brothers in a Hudson County pool in 2022, prosecutors said.

Ashley Danback, 37, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of false swearing in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:28-2a in connection with statements she made during investigation into the deaths of Chu Ming Zheng, 19, and Jack Jiang, 16, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said.

The brothers died after they were pulled from the Lincoln Community School pool in Bayonne on June 8, 2022. Zheng was a Bayonne High School graduate, and Jiang was a junior at the school, authorities said at the time.

Danback was one of three lifeguards who were working at the pool during what was billed as an open swim session at the Lincoln Community School pool, according to a mediation statement in a lawsuit filed by the boys' family and published by the Hudson County View.

The document says the brothers were learning how to swim in a 4-foot-deep area of the pool that suddenly drops off to 13 feet, and wound up in the 13-foot-deep portion and eventually drowned.

The lifeguards told investigators they were in the pool area at the time the two brothers needed to be rescued, but surveillance video showed Danback was in the lobby on the phone and showed no urgency to rush back and help when the brothers were under water, the mediation statement says.

Danback was covering the front lobby area because another lifeguard had called out unable to work, according to the mediation statement. That person had notified Danback early, but Danback told authorities she only found out when she arrived that the other lifeguard was out.

According to the mediation statement, Danback told police two days after the drownings that she had only left the pool deck to go to the bathroom and was in the lobby area because the bathrooms closest to the deck were occupied.

She also told police one of the lifeguards had told the brothers to get out of the area near the 13 feet of water, that it was closed.

Both of those statements to police were lies, according to the mediation statement, because video surveillance showed Danback had been in the lobby area the entire time leading up to the drownings.

Danback was charged on a summons and released, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said.