A tragic near-drowning incident at a Spring apartment complex pool has left a 3-year-old girl in intensive care, with recently emerged details revealing brain damage following the episode. According to FOX 26, the toddler, identified as Leilani Montarosa, had been enjoying a birthday barbeque at the Parkside Place Apartments with her family when she accidentally fell into the pool and was submerged for roughly two minutes.
The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office responded to the emergency at the 6200 block of FM 2920 Road where EMS managed to resuscitate the child; the little girl was "awake and breathing" after initially being found unresponsive by deputies, as KTRK reports, but it seems, the relief was short-lived as complications arose.
"I just heard screaming and someone say, ‘call 911’, and I didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t know the baby [Leilani] had fallen in the water," said Vivian, Leilani's aunt, in a statement obtained by FOX 26. The child's grandmother, Patricia Espinoza, who was celebrating her 54th birthday, underscored the perils that pools pose to children, advising parents to watch their little ones closely because "anything can happen in a matter of seconds."
Good Samaritan Owees Salazar, who coincidentally was in town for the weekend and has also recently recovered from severe illness, became the child's unexpected savior as he jumped into the pool to rescue Leilani, his quick actions giving her a fighting chance at survival; he described the harrowing ordeal and his own uncertainty during the rescue, "I ran along the edge of the pool and jumped in exactly where the little girl was, I didn’t know what to do or where to put her until they took her and started rendering first aid," Salazar told FOX 26.
The family's ordeal did not stop at the poolside as they are now facing the uncertainty of Leilani's condition in ICU; further distressing a family already shaken by the day's events, Leilani's father, too overwhelmed by the incident, provided no comment on the situation. As the community rallies around the Montarosa family during this challenging time, the incident has brought to light the ever-present dangers children face around bodies of water.
