A heartbroken mum claims her scared four-year-old son asked "what if I drown?" on the way to his second ever swimming lesson, only for his awful premonition to come true.
Dori Scott enrolled four-year-old Israel 'Izzy' Scott in a beginner's swim class in June this year after the tot showed a love of water on a family holiday.
The 35-year-old claims she picked an instructor after she advertised on Facebook claiming to have decades of experience.
When mum-of-three Dori turned up on the first day she claims she was told to leave Izzy and wait in the car, presuming it was to avoid distractions.
But on the second day as she sat in her car outside waiting for her son, she claims a tearful woman knocked on her window.
As Dori burst into the pool area, she claims little Izzy lay unconscious as an onlooker performed CPR.
It has not been established what had happened to him or how he came into trouble in the water.
The little boy was then rushed to hospital in Burke County, Georgia, before being transferred to Children's Hospital of Georgia, in Augusta, where he died in the early hours of June 15, 2022.
Now Dori is campaigning for new laws that dictate an adult-to-child ratio at swim lessons in her state - while urging parents to never leave their children alone at the baths, even with instructors.
Dori, from Augusta, in Georgia, US, said: "It was a mother's worst nightmare. It's unbelievable and shocking.
"We had just been on a vacation and that's when I scheduled his swim lessons.
"I was telling him 'you're going to be swimming' and he was so excited because he always wanted to swim. He always knew the danger of water but he loved it so much.
"[Before the second class] when I was getting him dressed, he said 'why am I putting that on?' I told him he had a swim lesson and he said 'I don't wanna go' but was in a happy mood.
"He asked 'but what if I drown' and I said 'you're not going to drown, silly' and he laughed it off."
Dori claims she left Izzy with the instructor before going to sit in her car and wait for the class to finish.
Dori said: "It happened on day two. I signed my son up for a week of swim lessons.
"[The instructor] told me the parents weren't allowed to stay because I guess the kids didn't act right [with parents there].
"I waited in my car and got a knock on my window [from a parent] saying 'come get your baby'.
"It wasn't time - they still had about six minutes left. I looked at her again and saw tears in her eyes.
"That's when I started screaming because I figured something was wrong.
"My whole life changed in a matter of moments."
Panicked Dori rushed in through the gate to find her unconscious son lay by the poolside receiving CPR and foaming at the mouth.
Dori said: "I cried and screamed all the way up there and when I got there, my son was on the side of the pool while they were administering CPR. He was unresponsive.
"I could tell by looking at him that he had been under the water for some time because he was foaming at the mouth and had no heartbeat.
"I asked the swimming instructor what happened and all she could tell me was she didn't know. She said 'I don't know. I told the kids to get out of the pool. I don't know'.
"I stood at the pool screaming 'let me hold my baby'. They wouldn't let me hold him of course because they were doing CPR and chest compressions.
"I have so many unanswered questions."
Little Izzy was then rushed to Burke Medical Center nearby before being driven to the Children's Hospital of Georgia, where medics got a heartbeat.
But after a CT scan, it was established Izzy was already brain dead and he sadly passed away soon after.
Dori said: "We were able to go back and see him when they were doing all these tests on him.
"They finally got a heartbeat but once they did a CT scan he was already brain dead. He'd been under [the water] too long.
"He passed in the early hours of June 15, 2022. I never received an apology."
Burke County Sheriff's Office confirmed they attended a property in Hephzibah, Georgia, on June 14, 2022, to reports of the 'possible drowning of a child'.
Sheriff Alfonzo Williams said: "Our office and our community are deeply saddened by this tragic loss. We have grieved and continue to grieve with all parties involved.
"We offered at the onset our sincerest sympathy to the Scott family. One does not expect to take his/her child to swimming lessons to learn water safety and not have the child returned to them safely."
