21-year-old Victoria Tristan from Round Rock Texas was arrested on Wednesday for leaving her one-year-old unattended in the bathtub that eventually resulted in the child drowning. The unfortunate incident occurred in January. Back then, Tristan allegedly told police officers that she left her little one in the bathtub to text a family member and later accidentally fell asleep for ten minutes. When she woke up, she found her daughter unresponsive in the tub full of water. However, her phone records told a different story. As per the police affidavit, Tristan allegedly texted for five minutes, followed by eight minutes of inactivity. After this, she searched Youtube before calling 911 four minutes later. Tristan has been charged with first degree felony injury to the one-year-old and was being held on a $300,000 bond.
The attorney for Tristan hasn't given any statement yet. As per the affidavit, Tristan said she went straight to the bathroom after waking up and found the child unresponsive. She then removed the child from the bathtub and attempted CPR. After the call was made to 911, the first officer arrived at the scene, three minutes later. The affidavit further said that Tristan, knowingly, by omission caused serious bodily injury by leaving the child unattended in the tub with water running.
Drowning, the number two cause of death among children
The statistics by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) throw an alarming figure on deaths by drowning. It reports that for children between 1 and 4 years of age, drowning is the second leading cause of death, second only to birth defects. The picture is not very different in yet another survey taken elsewhere. A 2020 community-based survey conducted by the Georgia Institute in collaboration with Child in Need Institute (CINI) highlighted that there are nearly 3 drowning deaths among children aged 1-9 years every day in the Sundarbans. It also highlighted the fact that interventions aimed at keeping children in safe spaces away from water were urgently required.
As per World Health Organisation, drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. Children, males and individuals with increased access to water are most at risk of drowning.
