Palm Desert man was allegedly drunk when child nearly drowned
A 25-year-old man remained in jail today pendingarraignment on felony child endangerment charges stemming from the near-drowning of a toddler in his care.
Pedro Rangel of Palm Desert was supervising three children between theages of two and six at an apartment complex in the 44800 block of Las PalmasAvenue on Saturday, said Palm Desert police Sgt. Radek Horkel.
Police officers and paramedics went to the complex at 5:26 p.m. inresponse to a report of a child drowning, Horkel said.
Rangel was playing with the two oldest children in the water while the 2-year-old sat outside of the pool on the concrete edge, the sergeant said.
“The 2-year-old fell into the water and no one noticed,” Horkel said.“Several minutes later, neighbors saw the 2-year-old child unresponsive in thepool water.”
Neighbors got into the pool area and revived the child with CPR, Horkelsaid. She was transported to a hospital for observation.
Rangel was intoxicated during the incident and, as a result, failed tonotice that the child fell into the pool, Horkel said.
He was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment and bookedinto the Riverside County Jail in Indio, where he remained in lieu of $35,000bail, according to the sheriff’s inmate information website. He’s scheduled tobe arraigned Wednesday.
