Distraught family of toddler who drowned in day care pool demands justice

The family of a toddler, River Wilson, who drowned in a pool at a Bronx day care while the caregiver was distracted cooking is calling for justice.

River drowned at Ana’s Butterfly Garden Family Group home-based day care on Story Ave. near Olmstead Ave. in Castle Hill at about 12:50 p.m. Friday, cops said.

The 21-month-old victim’s family lives just around the corner from the day care.

“A neighbor heard screaming and ran around the corner and saw the baby — that’s how our family found out.

“My baby sister and her husband were recently married. It couldn’t be a more tragic situation. We didn’t even know they had a pool, it was behind a closed door and behind a gate,” said the victim’s aunt, Inemesit O’Boyle, who is a lawyer.

According to Daily News, the little River was being cared for by a 47-year-old woman who told police she was cooking and at some point, realized she hadn’t seen the girl for about 20 minutes. She then found her in the pool.

It’s not yet clear if she will be criminally charged.

“We can’t imagine how she ended up in the pool,” O’Boyle said. “She can’t open the door. She can’t climb a gate.”

The aunt said when little River was dropped off at the day care they were expecting her to nap, only to learn an hour later she was dead. The tot had been going to the day care since August of last year, the aunt said.

“She was good. She was an angel. Came to his world to just bless us,” the toddler’s mother Ima Wilson told News 12 Bronx. “How does she open a door? She can’t open a door.”

A 46-year-old neighbor heard a commotion and rushed to provide aid to the toddler.

“We heard a lot of yelling and screaming,” said the neighbor, a former federal police officer who asked not to be named. “I looked out the bathroom window and saw a woman with a baby in her arms.”

“I started doing CPR while I was on the phone with 911. They told us to get a pair of scissors to cut the baby’s dress off,” he said. “I couldn’t find a pulse, but my instinct was to continue to do CPR. There was no response.”

Medics rushed River to Montefiore Medical Center, but she could not be saved.

O’Boyle said that the family hasn’t received any updates from the day care but are hoping that cameras near the scene would help explain how the tragedy unfolded.

“The day care has compounded the pain of River’s passing by completely ignoring the family’s efforts to contact them,” O’Boyle said. “River’s family deserves to know what happened to their baby girl, but the day care has refused to provide any information or communicate with the family.”

The day care was established in 2018 and is authorized to hold a capacity of 10 children ranging from 6 weeks to 12 years old, according to the state Office of Children and Family Services.

During an unannounced annual inspection on May 14, no violations were found, according to the OCFS website.

In a similar inspection in March 2023 investigators noted that “competent supervision” was not maintained at all times, a problem not found since then.

Daily News