4-year-old found at bottom of pool
06/23/97
Current Stories Index
Seconds turn into minutes and children die.
A Sunday afternoon swim turns into tragedy for a Phoenix family.
The mother and her 3 children, a 4, 8 & 12-year old, were enjoying a swim Sunday afternoon in their back yard.
The exact sequence in not know, said Phil Rohe of the Tempe Fire Department, but at some point the mother went inside for "just a few seconds". The two other children also wondered off. Everyone assuming that someone else was watching the 4-year-old boy.
The mother returns to find her son at the bottom of the pool. She immediately dove in and brought him to the surface.
At 5:25 P.M. 911 was called.
The Tempe Police arrived within 3 minutes and started CPR. Tempe Fire arrived 1 minute later and started advanced live support.
Air evac raced the child to Phoenix Children's Hospital but no efforts were rewarded.
"People think that it will never happen to them", said Phil Rohe. "Seconds turn into minutes and then it's to late"
"This was not a family that didn't care", said Rohe. "This happened in a nice neighborhood to good people".
Reported by: Phil Rohe of the Tempe Fire Department
Written by: Ed Swift