A Florida mother has been arrested following the drowning of her four-year-old daughter during a family pool party at an apartment complex in Bradenton, near Tampa, according to police.
Incident Details
Officers responded to the Kendall Ridge Apartment Complex shortly after 9 p.m. on Saturday and arrived within three minutes of the call, finding the child unresponsive in the pool. By the time emergency services reached the scene, the girl had already been pulled from the water.
Bradenton Police Department officers immediately began CPR before the child was transported to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Investigators stated that the child had been swimming during the gathering when she slipped beneath the water unnoticed and remained at the bottom of the pool for several minutes before being discovered.
Arrest and Charges
The mother, identified as Rosette Pierrecius, was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm. Authorities said the child had already been pulled from the water by the time officers reached the pool. Police performed CPR, but it was too late, and the child died.
According to detectives, a large group of adults and children had gathered around the pool during what police described as an unauthorized after-hours party. The child remained underwater for several minutes while the party continued around the pool area.
Surveillance Footage
Detectives later reviewed security camera footage from the complex, which showed the girl submerged for a 'significant amount of time' before anyone realized she was missing. Bradenton police spokeswoman Meredith Censullo said the surveillance footage did not match accounts given by the mother and other witnesses at the scene.
Police also determined that no adult had been actively supervising the child at the time of the drowning.
Police Statement
'It's a tough choice to charge a mother who has just lost a child,' Censullo told Fox 13, adding that investigators believed the mother failed to properly supervise her daughter. Authorities have not said whether additional charges could be filed following the child's death.
Bradenton Police noted that drowning remains the leading cause of death for children between the ages of one and four in the United States and urged families to designate a dedicated 'water watcher' whenever children are near water.
