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Mom Arrested After Child Almost Drowns

Last updated on Tuesday, July 17, 2012

(LAWRENCE) - An Indianapolis woman faces neglect charges after police say she dropped off her children to swim at a pool unsupervised. One of the children nearly drowned.

Vonda Marie Goodman, 28, was arrested in connection with the incident, which happened on Sunday afternoon at the Hunt Club apartments on Old Colony Road. According to police, her nine-year-old son nearly drowned.

Witnesses told police they saw Goodman drop off the nine-year-old boy and five-year-old girl around 3:30 pm. According to the report, Goodman did not get out of her vehicle and drove off.

The children played in the shallow end of the pool for some time, but when the boy wandered into the deep end, another swimmer had to pull him out of the water because he was having trouble staying afloat. He was rescued quickly and was not injured.

Police were called to the scene around 4:30 pm. At first Goodman told officers that the children had been left alone for around 15 minutes, but later admitted to dropping them off an hour earlier.

While police questioned Goodman, she began complaining to officers about how long it was taking because she had things to do. She also admitted to dropping her kids off at the pool unattended while she was aware that no lifeguard was on duty.

Goodman also said she knew that neither of the children knew how to swim, and that neither had any floatation devices with them. She also had two one-year-old twin girls with her in the vehicle, and after dropping off the older children, she had gone to her brother's apartment to escape from the heat.

Goodman told officers that she often left her children unattended because she couldn't cope as a single parent, saying, "I'm sorry. I was being selfish and I know better."

Goodman's son told police that she often leaves the children home alone, and that she sometimes would pin him to the floor and hit him.

The children were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. Goodman was arrested at the scene.

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