Baby flown to hospital after fall into water

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

EAST LAKE -- A 10-month-old girl in a walker fell into the pool at her home Tuesday afternoon while her father was in the bathroom.

According to Sgt. Greg Tita of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. at the home of Colin and Therese Parker at 467 Equine Drive in the Keystone Bluffs subdivision.

Colin Parker, 34, was at home taking care of his daughter, Nichole, and had put her in a walker after she awoke from a nap, Tita said.

Parker said he went to the bathroom and when he came out, he found Nichole in the pool near the pool steps, Tita said. He performed CPR on his daughter and called 911.

Nichole was flown by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and later transferred to All Children's Hospital. Her condition was unavailable Tuesday evening.

A neighbor, Jennifer Gallivan, said she had just pulled into her driveway and ran over to the Parker house when she saw emergency vehicles. She said Parker told her he had just recently taken down a baby security fence around the pool in order to power wash the pool deck, and he had not yet put it back up.

"It's terrible," she said. "Hopefully, everything is okay."

Gallivan said Parker's wife, a dental hygienist, was working at the time of the accident.

On Monday, one child died and another is in critical condition after they were found in their apartment complex swimming pool in Safety Harbor.

"Another terrible accident two days in a row," Tita said. "Hopefully, this child will survive."

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