Investigation continues into 3-year-old’s drowning

Police continue to investigate the death of a 3-year-old girl who drowned in an above-ground pool Thursday morning, Wichita police said Friday.

During the time of the drowning, the girl was playing in the backyard of a house in the 1400 block of South Sedgwick, near Harry and Meridian, with her 5-year-old brother, Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said.

The sitter, a 36-year-old woman, told police that after approximately 20 minutes, the boy came inside to tell her that his sister was in the pool in the backyard, Woodrow said. The woman went outside, found the girl in the pool and brought her inside the home, Woodrow said.

First responders arrived, and the girl was pronounced dead on the scene, Woodrow said.

The woman had been watching the 3-year-old, her 5-year-old brother and their infant brother for a family friend overnight Wednesday and on Thursday. The two other children in the home – a 1-year-old boy and a 2-year-old boy – were the sitter’s children.

It is unknown at this time how the girl got into the pool, but the case is still being investigated, Woodrow said.

“I do believe that the ladder had been pulled (away) from the pool,” Woodrow said. “That is like the number one safety recommendation that we can give … is to pull the ladders (away) from the pool so that juveniles don’t have access to get in and out of the pool.

“Unfortunately, it was just a tragic situation.”

Woodrow said she thinks the incident was the first drowning in an outdoor pool this year.

“It is that time of year, so the only thing that we can stress is to keep an eye on the little ones at all time, and then make sure every safety (measure) is in place so that they can’t get into any kind of harm’s way,” Woodrow said.

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Investigation continues into 3-year-old’s drowning."