Infant drowns in bathtub while mother was on Facebook

Houston, Jun 23 (PTI): An eight-month-old baby drowned in a bathtub while her mother was busy texting on Facebook, US media reports said.

Cheyenne Summer Stuckey, 21, told investigators that she put her daughter Zayla Hernandez in the tub in their home in Texas and left her unsupervised with the water running “for only a couple minutes”.

She said she became “distracted” by another child, Facebook Messenger and a television playing loudly. The investigators found that Stuckey was messaging two people on Facebook for at least 18 minutes while the infant was left unattended on June 13, CBS news reported.

Stuckey told investigators that she rushed to check on the child when she realised she had forgotten about her, but found her floating in the tub face-down and unresponsive. Stuckey said she tried to resuscitate the girl but “did not know how.” She told investigators she was not sure if she had placed a bathtub stopper in the drain.

Emergency responders were not able to resuscitate the girl, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital, the report said. A Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s preliminary autopsy report revealed Zayla died from drowning. Stuckey was booked in to the Parker County Jail and charged with injury to a child.

According to a spokeswoman, Stuckey’s other kids had been in foster care and were just returned to her about a month before Zayla died. Detectives say the kids were removed due to neglect.