GILBERT, AZ – A 5-year-old New Mexico boy has died after being pulled from a community pool in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert.
Gilbert Fire spokesman Brian Ruffentine said the child was found in the main pool at the Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse near Baseline and Val Vista roads.
Gilbert police said Sunday that 5-year-old Clayden Hammond was with his older brother and grandmother at the pool when he was found unconscious Saturday.
Ruffentine said it was unknown how long the boy had been in the water.
Adults at the scene started CPR before firefighters arrived.
He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and taken off life support overnight.
It’s unclear how the boy drowned in the pool, which was filled with other families.
Clayden, his brother and their parents were visiting the Phoenix area from New Mexico.
Police did not know where in New Mexico they were from.
A 4-year-old boy had a close call in a community pool in Maricopa mid-afternoon Sunday.
The unidentified boy was swimming with family members in the Villages subdivision near John Wayne Parkway and Smith Enke Road when he began to struggle.
“He went under and took a couple of big gulps of water, and family members pulled him out of the pool,” said Jon Sheaffer, a firefighter and spokesman with the Maricopa Fire Department.
Family members began CPR, and the boy coughed and vomited. He was taken to Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa to be checked out as a precaution.
“It was fortunate, not necessarily that it happened, but that his family members were keeping an eye on him, or else it could have been tragic,” Sheaffer said.
Maricopa firefighters go into schools to deliver messages about fire and water safety.
“Whether that program had an impact, I can’t say … but it brings awareness,” Sheaffer said.
“Even if it’s a matter of seconds, keep your eyes on your little ones and other people’s little ones.”
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.
WICKENBURG, AZ – Authorities say a man died after his vehicle was swept down a wash near Wickenburg on Saturday night.
According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, 65-year-old Richard Leonard Evans was traveling home just after 6 p.m. when he tried to drive his SUV through a wash crossing Red Hill Road.
“We saw him come down the road, there was a river flowing really high in the wash. We told him not to go through it but he told us it wasn’t that bad,” said neighbor Guy Rodmonich.
The roadway was flooded and he was swept away. Evans was just a few feet from his driveway.
Rescuers reached Evans and transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“We saw him trying to steer the SUV. He was hitting every tree in his path. We tried to rescue him but there was nothing we could do,” said Brandon Pruitt who watched the scene unfold.
MCSO spokesman Chris Hegstrom said Evans’ vehicle was nose down in the dirt and there was water in the vehicle when he was found.
“The roads are treacherous,” Hegstrom said. “Can’t stress enough that if you see water on the roadway flowing at any speed you don’t know how deep it is. You need to avoid the area, it’s not safe.”
Hegstrom said deputies helped with a number of water rescues in the area, including one with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in which the MCSO helicopter was used.
GLENDALE, AZ – A 1-year-old girl was flown to Phoenix Children’s Hospital in extremely critical condition after being pulled from a back yard pool in Glendale Friday evening.
Mike Young of the Glendale Fire Department said the call came from a residence near Bethany Home Road and 75th Avenue.
The girl was being watched with four other children by their grandmother at a home owned by the child’s aunt.
Fire officials say the girl’s 3-year-old brother opened the back door so the kids could get to the back yard.
There is a pool fence but it apparently doesn’t close all the way.
You could see from Air15 video that the pool is green and murky.
Fire officials say the girl was found face down in the pool for an unknown amount of time.
She was flown to the hospital and is expected to recover.
MESA, AZ – A 68-year-old Mesa woman was found floating in her son’s backyard pool Sunday after her husband noticed she was gone from the home.
Police said the woman’s husband left their home for an afternoon meeting, later returning to find that his wife, Davene Montierth, was not there.
One of his sons living next door returned home after getting a phone call from his father, finding his mother floating near the top of the water in his backyard pool, according to police.
He pulled Montierth out of the water and another family member called 911.
Officials said the pool was very dirty.
The Mesa Fire Department was called to the scene and later pronounced Montierth deceased.
The case is being handled as a drowning, but the investigation is ongoing.
QUEEN CREEK, AZ – A 2-year-old boy died Sunday night after being pulled from a San Tan Valley wash.
Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Elias Johnson said firefighters got a a call around 6:20 p.m. saying a little boy had been swept away in a wash behind a home near Combs and Gantzel.
Johnson said heavy flooding prohibited air and ground units to get to where the child was located.
A neighbor on an ATV was able to find the boy and bring him to firefighters at the scene.
Firefighters performed CPR on the boy before transporting him to Banner Ironwood Hospital where he later died.
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.
