WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It was the swan dive seen around the world; 18-month-old Rocco was chasing a ball when he fell into the pool.
Rocco’s dad, Albert Passavanti, jumped over the four-foot pool fence and into the pool to save him. In the month since we first showed you that video, Passavanti has gone from dad, to super-dad, to pool safety advocate.
“Let’s just say it’s an active volcano. What is the mindset going to be of the parents then? No, I’m not going walk away and allow my kids around that. But to a kid that can’t swim, what’s the difference? It’s still going to be the same result,” he said about his perspective around pools now.
The family made two major changes since that video went viral: one if they’re by the pool Rocco is always wearing one a life jacket and two, they’re ramping up his swim lessons.
“The mindset of the people who are in charge of the pool is the most important takeaway from this,” he said
After our original story, the video was picked up by local and network news all across the country. And overseas, attracting even more attention.
“Private companies are really trying to license it and push this video to all the awareness places in other countries,” he said.
He says most of the reaction was positive, but the negative ones he’s okay with. After all, he didn’t post it to show off his diving skills.
“The people who have negative things to say, they’re all correct. Mistakes were made that day. That was the whole point of the video,” he said.
Anytime they are swimming out by the pool, if anyone that’s out there doesn’t know how to swim or aren’t a strong swimmer, they make sure they have some sort of flotation device on.