By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
The near drowning of a small child — reportedly for the second time in a year — has prompted an investigation into the incident by local authorities.
Pulaski County Sheriff Todd Wood said his department responded to a report of a possible drowning at a residence on Pond School Road outside the Eubank community just after noon on Sunday. When deputies arrived at the residence, they discovered that members of the Eubank Volunteer Fire Department were already performing CPR on the two-year-old girl.
“A family friend had also worked and performed CPR on her,” Wood said on Monday.
Wood declined to identify the girl, stating it isn’t his department’s policy to release the identity of young children involved in incidents investigated by the sheriff’s department.
Wood said the young girl had been swimming in her neighbor’s pool when she went into the home to change clothes and dry off. It was after that, according to reports taken from the girl’s father, Chad Stephens, and the owner of the home where the pool was located, that she somehow slipped back outside.
“No one inside the residence knew she’d gone out,” Wood said.
He emphasized that details about the incident are still being gathered as deputies work to investigate the case. He did say, however, that reports that the young girl was under the watch of a seven-year-old while the adults went out conflicted with his department’s report of the incident.
“They were all changing and drying off,” Wood said. “Within minutes, there was obviously the realization that the child was not around.”
A seven-year-old child was the first to come upon the young girl in the pool, according to Wood.
“All the stated individuals were at the residence,” he said.
Wood confirmed that Sunday’s incident was the second time in around a year that the young girl had nearly drowned.
“The same child had fallen into the same pool,” Wood said.
It’s that fact — that the young girl has twice nearly drowned in a pool — that has led to an investigation into the incident.
“We understand that we’re all human and sometimes mistakes happen,” Wood said. “But we’re very, very concerned that this happened twice in one year.”
The young girl was flown from the scene of the incident by helicopter to the University of Kentucky for treatment.
Wood said the investigation is continuing.
“Let’s let all the facts be gathered ... we’ll let the correct people decide what needs to be done,” Wood said.
No charges have been filed in the incident.
