ENGLEWOOD, Fla. -- Charlotte County deputies are investigating how a girl got into a pool and drowned.
This happened Saturday just before 9 a.m. at a home in the 1000 block of Bay Harbor Drive in Englewood.
Kristina Sanchez-Cartagena, the mother of the two-year little girl Laylani, tells Fox 4, the family moved into the house on Bay Harbor Drive a few weeks ago. Sanchez-Cartagena says she put both of her kids down for a nap, and she says moments go by and she was getting ready to feed her three-month-old child but didn’t see Laylani. She says she searched for her and found her daughter floating in the pool, Sanchez says her daughter opened a french door and went to the pool to try to swim. Her father says he made sure he closed everything before he left for work that morning, but they didn’t know Laylani could open door nobs.
Kristina Sanchez-Cartagena says she came out of this house screaming for help, then several people, including a retired officer came out of their homes to do CPR on the little girl, but after neighbors and first responders worked on her for hours, Laylani passed away. The family did provide a statement about their daughter to Fox 4 today:
“We beg these parents to please teach your kids how to swim, and guard them from accessing pools and take as many precautions as you can. We want this story to be told so no other parent has to feel this pain this is no way for parents to live. Our daughter was such a beautiful soul, and full of life, now it feels like our sunshine has been taken away from me.”
The family told me the pool had not been in use nor maintained for years, and it had filled with water from the recent rains. The family says they would also like to think the entire community for their support in this difficult time.
