Boy, 2, Found in Anaheim Pool Dies

ANAHEIM —  A 2-year-old boy died Friday, more than 24 hours after being pulled out of a back-yard swimming pool at a home in the 5300 block of Quail Ridge Terrace, the county coroner’s office said.

Juan Ramirez died at 3:45 p.m. at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange where he had been on life support since Thursday.

The child was found submerged in the pool by his 29-year-old mother, Maria Garcia, who had left him in the back yard strapped to a child’s seat, said Supervisor Deputy Coroner Cullen Ellingbergh.

Garcia, who is a live-in housekeeper at the home, went inside for a few minutes and when she came back outside, she found her son in the pool.

“She had a smaller baby in her arms and didn’t know how to swim so she ran to a neighbor’s house for help,” Ellingbergh said. “The neighbor pulled the child out, started (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and called paramedics.”

The child was revived, then taken to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim before being transferred to Children’s Hospital.

Statewide and in Orange County, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children 4 years old and younger, according to a county study released in April.

Friday’s death was the ninth drowning of a child this year in Orange County.