Plum man charged in drowning

Girl, 3, found in pool after dad went inside

A Plum man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after his 3- year- old daughter drowned Aug. 1 in a backyard pool and authorities found open bottles of alcohol in the residence.

Allegheny County police said Charles Mitchell, 27, left his daughter and his 4- year- old son unattended at the pool for about five minutes. His daughter fell into the deep end, and he came back outside to find her at the bottom of the pool just before 8 p. m. at the home on Ridgewood Court.

She was transported to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, where she was pronounced dead about an hour later.

“It’s a horrible, tragic accident,” said Mr. Mitchell’s attorney, Casey White. “My client was not reckless nor grossly negligent. It was an accident. It was a tragedy, not a criminal event.”

Police said Mr. Mitchell admitted no adults were supervising his two children in the pool when his daughter was found underwater. He said he went inside to fix a drink of ginger ale mixed with an “apple- flavored alcohol.”

Mr. Mitchell later changed that statement, however, and said he went inside for only a ginger ale, police reported.

He returned to find his son swimming in the shallow end of the pool but initially didn’t see his daughter. When he saw the 3- yearold submerged in the 8- foot end of the pool, he jumped in to try to save her, the complaint says.

His fiancee attempted CPR before police and medics arrived and continued CPR, a complaint states.

Mr. White said his client was not under the influence of mindaltering drugs or alcohol at the time of the incident. It was an unforeseeable accident, he said.

Mr. Mitchell is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children and involuntary manslaughter. He is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.

The two children, as well as a 9year- old child of his children’s mother, had come to visit him on July 31 at the home he shares with his fiancee.

All three kids spent the early part of Aug. 1 swimming in the pool before taking a break to eat

the complaint states. The 9- year- old was taken to football practice after lunch.

The other two children played in the house until his fiancee returned from getting her nails done sometime between 6 and 6: 30 p. m.

The 4- year- old asked to go swimming again after dinner, but his sister didn’t want to, police reported. Mr. Mitchell took both children outside, and his son put on a life vest. His daughter refused a life vest and stood next to tables by the back door of the house, according to police.

Neither child could swim, police reported.

Officials said they discovered two open whiskey bottles and “numerous” Styrofoam cups containing brown liquid that “smelled like whiskey” on the kitchen island inside the two- story residence, an affidavit states. They also found open beer cans and food containers with old food in them on the kitchen counter.

Mr. Mitchell told police he had not been drinking that evening, and that the bottles were from a party a week earlier.

Mr. Mitchell’s attorney said he only stepped away from his children for less than five minutes and went inside to a room that was on the same level as the pool and within sight and earshot of the pool.

He said the 3- year- old was sitting in a chair when Mr. Mitchell went inside.

Mr. White hopes Mr. Mitchell will be granted a bond so he can attend his daughter’s funeral.

“He just wants to mourn the loss of his daughter,” the lawyer said.