1-year-old boy in Springfield nearly drowns

Two teenagers assigned to watch a 1-year-old boy were left visibly shaken when he was found floating and not breathing in a backyard swimming pool Wednesday night.

The child “was breathing and crying at the hospital” in Springfield, police Sgt. Doug Pergram told News Center 7’s Kate Bartley. The child later was transferred to Dayton Children’s Hospital. His condition was not immediately known.

No charges are being filed, but information about the near-drowning is being sent to the police division’s detective section as well as Family & Children Services of Clark County, Pergram said.

Police and a medic unit were dispatched to a duplex in the 500 block of West High Street just before 7 p.m. on a report of a child found not breathing and floating in a swimming pool at the rear of the address.

Police think someone left the residence and the child walked out the door behind that person, then used the attached ladder to make his way into the blue above-ground pool, Pergram said.

Apparently minutes after the boy had gotten into the water, the teens noticed he was missing and searched the residence for him, according to Pergram. One of the teens looked out a window and saw the boy in the pool.

“At this time we believe it to be purely accidental,” the sergeant said.

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