Third Child With Autism Drowns in PSL Pond Since November, Police Chief Says
The death of 5-year-old Zam Tuang exposes a recurring crisis at the intersection of wandering risk, retention pond density, and stalled local safety policy
A 5-year-old Port St. Lucie boy with autism drowned in a neighborhood retention pond Monday night — the third such death since November, according to the city's own police chief — renewing urgent questions about whether the city has done enough to protect children who wander near Florida's ubiquitous stormwater ponds.
Zam Tuang was reported missing from his family's home in the 700 block of Southwest Crean Terrace at approximately 8 p.m. Monday. Surveillance footage recovered by officers showed the boy opening two garage doors and walking eastbound on foot at about 7:15 p.m. His parents searched for him before calling 911, creating roughly a 45-minute gap before police were notified. Officers deployed a drone, a K-9 bloodhound, and additional patrol units. At approximately 9:45 p.m., Zam was found in a body of water at the intersection of Southwest Juliet and Southwest Hampshire Lane. He was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead at 11 p.m. The medical examiner ruled the drowning accidental.
Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk disclosed the larger pattern Tuesday afternoon at a news conference. Since he took command in November 2024, Niemczyk said, Zam is the third child with autism to drown in the city.
That figure demands scrutiny from city leaders.
"Immediately dial 911," Niemczyk said, urging parents not to delay calling for help. "Don't be afraid that we get there and you locate them. We're going to be happy about that."
The appeal, while compassionate, sidesteps a harder structural question: why do children in Port St. Lucie repeatedly reach open water before anyone can stop them?
Port St. Lucie's residential grid is laced with retention ponds — a feature of virtually every subdivision built under Florida's stormwater management rules. The city's current ordinances governing fencing or barriers around those ponds According to available information, have drawn little public scrutiny, even as drowning deaths mount. Advocates for children with autism have long warned that elopement — the clinical term for wandering — is among the leading causes of accidental death for children on the spectrum, with drowning accounting for the majority of those fatalities According to available information,.
Niemczyk announced the department will host an autism-awareness safety event April 18 at 9 a.m. at a community center near the police station. The event is a welcome gesture. It is not a policy fix.
The PSL drowning follows the death of a 2-year-old in Greenacres last Wednesday, underscoring that this is a Treasure Coast-wide problem, not one city's anomaly.
City commissioners and St. Lucie County officials have not yet responded publicly to Niemczyk's three-drowning disclosure According to initial reports,. The TC Sentinel has submitted public-records requests for any pond-fencing ordinance reviews or related commission correspondence conducted since November 2024.
This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.