Heartbroken mother sues South Carolina resort after her daughter, 4, drowned in pool ‘without any lifeguards’ – as vacation hotspot suffers third child death in three years

The heartbroken family of a four-year-old Kentucky girl who drowned in a South Carolina resort pool has filed a lawsuit against the vacation hotspot where two other children also drowned in just three years.

On April 1, 2021, Demi Williams tragically drowned during a family outing to Crown Reef Beach Resort and Waterpark, reportedly without a lifeguard in sight.

Her stricken mother, Destiny Morgan, who was initially charged with neglect for the death before charges were dropped, said she is suing the resort over an alleged lack of safety measures around the pool.

“Something has to be done,” she said NBC News. “I have to do something in my child’s honor so this never happens again.”

Her mother, Destiny Morgan, who was initially charged with neglect for the death before the charges were later dropped (seen in her mugshot), has filed a lawsuit against the resort over a number of safety deficiencies.

Morgan said the horror happened on the second night of their holiday, after Demi and her two older siblings had spent the day playing in the pool.

That evening they took a lazy river ride while Morgan sat in a twirling hot tub, and the young girl had only gotten to ride on the same float as one of her older siblings.

When she asked to go alone, Morgan said she told the four-year-old to stand in the pool. After seeing that it was shallow enough for her to stand easily, she let Demi go on her own.

But she said she knew something was wrong when Demi’s older sister got out and she frantically looked for her young daughter.

When she got to one of the resort’s pools, which wasn’t on the Lazy River, she saw another guest pulling Demi out of the water without breathing.

Because there were no security cameras around the pools, it remains unclear how Demi ended up in the other pool, although her mother suspects she slipped and fell.

Guests at the resort, including a nurse, began frantically trying to save the young girl’s life, and the nurse told Morgan that she could detect a very faint heartbeat.

However, there were no defibrillators stationed at the pool, a device that delivers an electric shock to restart the heartbeat, and Morgan said she tried in vain to find lifeguards or resort staff to help.

Demi was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead that night.

Morgan said she launched her lawsuit in the hope that others would avoid similar heartbreak and said she is still shocked by the alleged lack of safety measures, feeling that “there was nothing to indicate that she did anything cared about human life.’

Crown Reef Beach Resort and Waterpark in South Carolina reportedly had no lifeguards, defibrillators or security cameras around its pools, in accordance with state law. Demi’s mother said signage around pools is not enough to prevent tragedies

The Crown Reef resort did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

The South Carolina vacation hotspot is not required by state law to have lifeguards at the pools or stationed on the lazy river, and they are only required at water slides.

Other pools may be unstaffed as long as they have signage informing guests that lifeguards are not on duty.

State laws also explain why there was no defibrillator, because the state Health and Environment Department said they pose a risk of electric shock if used on a wet body.

NBC News reported that the resort is in good standing with state health department investigations and passed its most recent unannounced inspection in July 2023 as all pools without lifeguards had proper signage.

The department added that the signs were also properly installed in 2021, when five-year-old Shane Chester drowned, and in 2018, when another young girl, Malayza Fayall, 7, drowned at the resort.

Fayall’s mother had also sued Crown Reef on similar grounds in 2020 and reached a settlement in 2023.

While reportedly complying with state safety laws, Morgan said signage around pools is not enough to prevent tragedies.

She said she hopes her lawsuit, which also seeks unspecified monetary damages, will result in safety improvements around the resort.

“More lifeguards, better lighting, more staff — those are simple solutions that could solve this,” said Morgan’s attorney Justin Lovely. “Close the pool at night if you don’t want anyone there during the service.”

Amy Lawrence, her other attorney, said the “unnecessary” drowning occurred after the resort appears to have made no changes to safety standards since the 2018 drowning.

“There should never have been a second or third death,” she added.

Morgan was initially charged with negligence over her daughter’s death, but the charges were later dropped. Morgan said her arrest came within minutes of her daughter’s death.

She said she is still haunted by the tragic loss of her daughter, and her children continue to suffer from what they saw.

“To this day I hear all four of my living children praying,” she said. “I hear my oldest daughter saying, ‘Please wake up my sister, God, please wake up my sister.'”