CORONER PLANS FURTHER TESTING ON DROWNED BOY.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Medical examiners conducted an autopsy Monday on a 10-year-old boy who was pulled from a condominium complex swimming pool and couldn't be revived by sheriff's deputies or paramedics.

Garrett Andrew Delaplane died Saturday night at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, according to Sgt. Michael Watner of the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station and Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier.

Rescue squads were called at 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the 26700 block of Isabella Parkway, where a boy had been pulled from the fenced-off swimming pool for residents of Canyon Country Villas, a 328-unit complex.

Garrett apparently was playing in the pool - which is 7 feet deep at one end, 3 feet deep at the opposite side, and 4-1/2 feet deep in the middle - while two other children and a 22-year-old woman with a baby were nearby, on the deck or in the water, said Sgt. Craig Melvin of the county Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau.

``(The woman) had noticed that he was at the other end of the pool, going under (water), holding his breath, and coming up. He may have been trying to see how long he could hold his breath,'' Melvin said. ``Next time she turned around and looked, he was at the bottom of the pool.''

Monday's autopsy was inconclusive, calling for further tests to determine the cause of death, Carrier said.

On Monday, several bouquets of flowers had been taped to the metal, railed fence surrounding the pool, along with a hand-lettered sign: `In loving memory of Garrett Delaplane.' ''

Another sign had messages in children's handwriting, including this one from someone named Sandy: ``I am so sad. I hope you are with God.''

Melvin said he hopes the autopsy will determine whether the boy drowned or if he had a medical condition that might have caused his death. ``Somebody had told me that (Garrett) had a seizure or passed out while chasing a ball about 40 days ago,'' the detective said.

``I looked for trauma and it didn't look like he hit his head,'' Melvin added.

Garrett's older brother was one of the children playing in the pool when the incident happened, he said.

Garrett had shallow breathing when paramedics arrived and took over cardiopulmonary resuscitation from sheriff's deputies. ``He was already in full (cardiac) arrest when we got there,'' said Capt. Glenn Goulet of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Bystanders told rescuers that Garrett ``had a seizure a month prior, and he was supposed to go back to a doctor for a re-evaluation,'' Goulet said.

Paramedics ``shocked him a few times and gave him a couple medicines, but we couldn't get a viable pulse back,'' Goulet said.

``When we got there, his color was good, so it appeared that they were doing good CPR,'' the captain said. ``We had really good hopes. I don't know why we couldn't bring him back.''

Garrett played baseball on a Canyon Country Little League team and had just finished fourth grade at Mitchell Elementary School in Canyon Country. He is survived by his parents, an older brother and a younger sister.