PHOENIX (AP) — A toddler discovered in a backyard pool in a Phoenix suburb in February was declared dead before being found breathing hours later in a room that serves as the hospital morgue, according to recently released police records.
Two Gilbert police officers saw possible signs of life multiple times, but the child was still taken to the hospital's “cold room" after being treated by staff, according to the documents.
“Please do your thing and
let me do my thing,” Dr. Aryan Toosi told an officer at one point, according to the report. “I went to medical school for a reason.”
First responders were dispatched to the home at about 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 8 in response to a reported drowning. They performed life-saving measures on the child before taking him to a local hospital where the boy was pronounced dead about an hour later.
About five hours later, police were notified that the child was indeed breathing, and he was flown to another hospital. The boy ultimately survived and has been released.
Gilbert police are recommending negligence charges against the parents. Investigators said there was a strong odor of marijuana at the home and open doors that could have allowed unsupervised access to the pool. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the case and declined further comment Monday.
In 911 calls, two relatives frantically reported that the child had been pulled from the pool as people at the scene could be shrieking. One caller reported the toddler was unconscious.
No one answered at the home where the near-drowning occurred when an Associated Press photographer knocked on the door Monday.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where the 18-month-old was taken, said in a statement that the hospital conducted “a thorough review of all aspects of the care provided to learn what happened and to make meaningful changes to strengthen our care.”
The hospital called it “a heartbreaking situation” and declined to release further details.
When a team from the local medical examiner's office arrived in the so-called cold room, they found the boy breathing and rushed him to another hospital, police said.
Scott Holden, an attorney for Toosi, told the AP that he wouldn't make a full statement on behalf of the doctor “other than to assure you that there is much more to this case, both factually and medically, than has been reported thus far.”
A GoFundMe page, which was created in February to help the boy's family with medical bills, said the toddler would need extensive therapy.
“Thank you for your prayers, your kindness, and your support for baby Vincent — our miracle fighter,” the page says.
An ABC affiliate in Phoenix, KNXV-TV, was the first to report the story.
There have been other cases of people discovered alive after being declared dead. In Southfield, Michigan, Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old with cerebral palsy, was declared dead by a doctor over the phone in 2020. City paramedics had responded to a 911 call at her family’s home.
Later that day, a funeral home opened the body bag and found Beauchamp gasping for air. She was swiftly taken to a hospital but never recovered and died two months later. Southfield settled a negligence lawsuit filed by the family for $3.25 million. ___ Ed White contributed to this story from Detroit.
