A Florida mother has been arrested after her four-year-old daughter drowned during a family pool party at an apartment complex in Bradenton near Tampa, police said.
Officers were called to the Kendall Ridge Apartment Complex shortly after 9pm on Saturday and arrived within three minutes of the call to find the child unresponsive in the pool.
When the emergency services reached the scene, the child had already been pulled from the pool
Officers with the Bradenton Police Department immediately began CPR before the girl was transported to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Investigators said the child had been swimming during the gathering when she slipped beneath the water unnoticed and remained at the bottom of the pool for several minutes before she was discovered.
The girl's mother, identified by police as Rosette Pierrecius, was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm.
Bradenton police arrested Rosette Pierrecius after her four-year-old daughter drowned during a crowded after-hours pool party at the Kendall Ridge Apartment Complex
Authorities said the child had already been pulled from the water by the time officers reached the pool. Police immediately performed CPR but it was too late and the child had died
According to detectives, a large group of adults and children had gathered around the pool during what police described as an unauthorized after-hours party.
The child remained underwater for several minutes while the party continued around the pool area.
Detectives later reviewed security camera footage from the complex, which they said showed the girl submerged for a 'significant amount of time' before anyone realized she was gone.
Bradenton police spokeswoman Meredith Censullo said the surveillance footage did not match accounts given by the mother and other witnesses at the scene.
Police also said investigators determined nobody had been actively watching the child at the time of the drowning.
Bradenton police spokeswoman Meredith Censullo told Fox 13 that the security video did not match witness accounts given to investigators after the drowning
Authorities said investigators determined no adult had been actively supervising the child while the after-hours pool party was taking place
'It's a tough choice to charge a mother who has just lost a child,' Censullo told Fox 13, adding that investigators believed the mother failed to properly supervise her daughter.
Authorities have not said whether additional charges could be filed following the child's death.
Bradenton Police noted that drowning remains the leading cause of death for children between the ages of one and four in the United States and urged families to designate a dedicated 'water watcher' whenever children are near water.