Pooler police arrested Mikayla Jimya Dixon after she witnessed her 5-year-old brother nearly drown. Since then, the 24-year-old has been charged with first degree felony cruelty to children, abandonment of dependent child, a misdemeanor, and false statements or writing conceal facts, which is a felony.
The incident took place at around 6 p.m. at Pooler’s Hamilton Grove Pool on April 13, according to WTOC.
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According to the arrest report, when police responded to the drowning, they spoke with a man who was at the pool and saw a young boy drowning.
He performed CPR on the child after seeing that he was not breathing. Although he didn’t know the kid or the parents, he told the authorities that he assumed the child was with a woman.
According to the man, the mother left the area before police arrived.
Police then contacted Dixon. She identified herself as the older sibling of the drowned child. She told police that she let her brother go to the pool with her coworker, the man mentioned above. She also told authorities that she was not present at the time of the occurrence.
Video footage, however, showed Dixon and her friends lounging in front of the pool as the young swimmer was left alone. Per the police complaint, the video shows the child trying to swim and about to drown in the pool behind Dixon and her friends.
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According to the report, the video showed the child drowning after being left alone for one to one and a half minutes.
Dixon then noticed her brother in the pool’s left corner and pulled him out before her coworkers performed CPR.
Police said the 5-year-old child was resuscitated and sent to a nearby hospital.
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