Toddler Drowns, Another Survives In Unrelated Pool Accidents

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI GARDENS (CBSMiami) -- A grieving father is speaking out after tragedy struck two toddlers in separate drowning-related incidents in Miami Gardens.

They happened just 10 minutes apart Tuesday night and just blocks away from each other -- a child found unattended and not breathing in a pool.

"I said, where is my son," a father recalled. "My wife said, 'he's not with you?' I said, 'no.' And then she went in the back to find my son in the pool."

Now Amoncier Lamour, 51, is left to remember the happy memories he shared during the brief time his 16-month-old son, Brindon, was alive.

"When my wife got pregnant we were really happy about it," Lamour said. "He did not come as scheduled. When my wife got pregnant, we welcomed our son to this world."

Lamour and his wife Nadia, 39, told officers that they each thought the other was watching the baby boy at their home at 55 N.W. 188th Street.

"He came to my room while I was trying to get some sleep," said Lamour, adding that the boy reached the pool by following a sibling to the backyard and somehow, fell in.

He was already out of the water when an officer arrived and immediately began trying to resuscitate the child. Those efforts weren't enough, however, and Brindon was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Just ten minutes earlier, paramedics responded to another drowning incident at N.W. 17th Avenue and 189th Terrace.

A two-year-old girl was found face down in a pool but survived after she was rushed to the hospital.

Officials said these tragedies are preventable.

"Make sure your swimming pool is fenced off and you have audible alarms and are aware at all times where your children are. Do not leave these areas unattended for children," said Battalion Chief Abel Fernandez from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

He reminded South Floridians the importance of learning CPR.

"You are going to push down hard and push down fast as much as 100 times a minute to get the chest pumping and get the blood flowing," Chief Fernandez said.

Miami-Dade and Florida, in general, lead the nation in child drownings between the ages of one and four.

Police said the two-year-old's father was outside his home with several children when he noticed his daughter missing and found her in the pool.