Children's Safety Zone

MARICOPA, AZ – A father says he thought his relatives were watching his 3-year-old daughter when he left the Maricopa neighborhood pool; meanwhile, the relatives thought he had taken the child with him.

No one noticed when the girl jumped into the pool and started to sink.

Despite being in the water for up to six minutes, the girl is perfectly fine, her father Justo Valenzuela said.

“God was with her,” said Valenzuela.

His daughter Ariza barely remembers what happened on Saturday .

“If I wouldn’t have gone to get [dinner], this wouldn’t have happened,” Valenzuela told ABC15.

Valenzuela said there must have been miscommunication among the family, something he said will never happen again.

“I could have lost one of the most precious things God has given me,” he said.

Ariza’s aunt began CPR and revived the child just as paramedics were arriving.

Valenzuela said his daughter is on an antibiotic to help combat any bacteria in her lungs, but other than that, she’s healthy.

“She’s our miracle,” Ariza’s aunt said.

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. ﾓAugust is drowning impact awareness month, and Queen Creek firefighters want to remind residents of the ABCs of water safety: Adult supervision, Barriers between children and water, and Classes in CPR for adults and swim lessons for children.

Drowning is a top cause of injury-related death for children in Arizona, especially in the one- to five-year-old age group. Child drowning is preventable, but sometimes, little can be done for a child once he or she has fallen into the water. Drowning can be avoided by following these important and life saving rules:

• Maintain constant adult supervision at all times.
• Install barriers surrounding the pool. Fences should be five feet high and gates should be self-closing and self-latching.
• Keep items that can be used for climbing away from pool fences.
• Never keep toys in or around a pool.
• Have a phone nearby. Post the 9-1-1 emergency telephone number and the physical address of the pool on the phone.

Purple ribbons recognizing the importance of water safety and the impacts of drowning are available free-of-charge at Queen Creek Town buildings and both Queen Creek fire stations through the month of August.

ANTHEM, AZ – Strong storms in Anthem dumped enough water to overflow a wash and knock down a brick wall Tuesday night.

A woman, who asked only to be identified as Jeannette, said she was in her backyard when the brick wall collapsed.

“I actually went under water and was stuck under my hot tub,” she told ABC15.

Jeannette said she swam as hard as she could to the surface and hopped on a nearby fence until a neighbor helped rescue her.

Across Anthem, debris cluttered neighborhoods and roadways.

Landscaping crews expected to work overnight to clean up the mess.

MESA, AZ – Authorities have identified a little boy who drowned in Mesa.

Mesa Fire Department spokesman Forrest Smith said the 4-year-old was found in a backyard pool near University Drive and Gilbert Road late Tuesday afternoon.

Mesa police say Cadan Huss Pickering was with his mother and great grandfather at the home.

CPR was being performed by Mesa police when fire crews arrived, Smith said. The boy was unresponsive enroute to the hospital.

The child was taken to Cardon Children’s Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

It was unknown how long the boy was in the water or how he was found.

Air15 video showed police putting up crime scene tape around a home with a pool that appeared to be green and murky.

Police say homicide detectives took over the investigation.

TUCSON – An angry mother is speaking out for the first time, after her 10 month old daughter drowned in her babysitter’s care.

Zada Davis told police she left Winter Azure in a bathtub unattended with the water running for about ten minutes.

The girl died six days later, becoming Pima County’s only child drowning this year.

Wednesday Davis pleaded not guilty to second degree murder.

Winter’s mother Kiari Holland sat in court and watched as Zada Davis pleaded not guilty to 2nd degree murder. A woman she thought she could trust.

Holland said she ran a background check and talked with friends who had also used the suspect as a sitter and thought that would be enough, but it wasn’t.

Holland said, “I figured it would go without saying for common sense, especially for a parent much less for anyone. You just don’t leave a child around water period.”

Its common sense that police said was missing for 10 minutes, leaving the little girl under water one minute, for every month she was alive.

It was a life cut way too short, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t leave her mark.

Talking about some of the things Winter liked Holland said, “For a ten month old she liked being thrown and hung upside down.” She also talked about how good of a baby she was. She said, “I still think to this day I don’t think she knew how to produce tears. She was just not a very good crying type of child.”

As for the suspect, the judge released her on her own recognizance, which is something Holland isn’t happy about. She said, “I’m a little irritated because almost anywhere else I’ve lived she’d be sitting in jail right now.”

But just because she’s out of jail doesn’t mean she’s off the hook by any means. If Davis is found guilty, she could face up to 25 years in prison for the 2nd degree murder charge alone.