Marion County Sheriff’s Office officials have released the name of the toddler who died on May 23 after he was pulled from a pool in Dunnellon.
Here’s what we know:
How old was the child, and his/her name? Arturo J. Martinez. The boy was 2, and would’ve turned 3 on Oct. 19.
What happened? According to a sheriff’s office report, Deputy Joshua Walton was called to 19035 NW 18th Place in Dunnellon for a report of a juvenile not breathing after falling into a pool. On the way to the location, the child’s mother, Kyara Martinez, was on her way to the hospital with her son, officials said. A dispatcher told the mother to stop and wait for the deputy.
Walton saw the mother at Northwest 144th Court Road and West County Road 328. The deputy noticed Martinez giving her son CPR. Walton and another deputy took Arturo and provided life saving measures on the boy until medical personnel arrived.
Arturo was taken to Adventhealth Ocala Hospital, where he died. Arturo was pronounced deceased at 2:10 p.m., the report states.
The deputy spoke with Arturo’s 16-year-old uncle. The uncle told the deputy, himself, other family members and Arturo, were outside feeding the animals on the property. He said he did not notice the child was not with them. The boy said he noticed Arturo’s father, Nicolas Perez, removing Arturo from the pool.
The uncle said Perez did CPR on Arturo until the family was ready to leave for the hospital.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
CDC reports “More children ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5-14, every year in the United States there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths,” and “drowning is a leading cause of death for children.”
From the American Red Cross, officials said “For children younger than 5, 87% of drowning fatalities happen in home pools or hot tubs,” and “Most take place in pools owned by family, friends or relatives.”
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Sheriff identifies toddler who died in pool
Reporting by Austin L. Miller, Ocala Star-Banner / Ocala Star-Banner
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
