Year-Old Boy Found in Family’s Pool in Critical Condition

SANTA ANA —  A 1-year-old boy was in critical condition after he was found floating in the family swimming pool Saturday morning.

The child, Darice Taafua, wandered out of his mother’s bedroom through an unlocked sliding glass door as she slept, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust.

“The mother woke up at 9 a.m. and found her children in the bedroom,” Faust said. “She went back to bed and woke up around 10:15 a.m. and found the baby in the pool. The swimming pool had no fence around it.”

It is unknown how long the child was in the pool before his mother, 28-year-old Solio Taafua, awoke and discovered him there. There were at least three other children in the house, Faust said.

Paramedics took the child to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he is listed in critical condition.

With Saturday’s incident, at least 33 drownings or near-drownings have been reported so far this year, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. Between 1993 and 1995, a total of 30 people drowned in Orange County, including seven in 1995.

This year, there have been 19 accidental drownings, six of them children age 4 years or younger, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

“It can happen just when you turn your back and a child is not under constant supervision,” Faust said. “This needs to serve as a reminder to keep the doors locked and have a fence around the pool that’s locked.”