Woman Gets Probation in Drowning

A 37-year-old Anaheim woman convicted of delaying the rescue of a 4-year-old boy who was drowning in her back-yard swimming pool has been placed on five years’ probation and ordered to receive psychiatric treatment.

Debra Kay Gipson’s felony conviction for child endangerment involving a swimming pool is believed to be the first such in Orange County and one of few ever in the nation, according to court officials.

Gipson, who had been convicted in 1985 of misdemeanor child abuse after beating her two sons for complaining that they were hungry, was also ordered to pay restitution to the dead boy’s family and to stay away from children unless another adult is present.

David (Trey) Smith, a neighborhood boy, fell into Gipson’s pool last June 17. He was pronounced dead at Childrens Hospital of Orange County five days later.

Scott D’Errico, Gipson’s next door neighbor, testified at the penalty trial Wednesday that Gipson panicked and ran away, abandoning her own two children, as D’Errico and another person tried to rescue the boy from the pool.

“She was standing there when we jumped in to get the kid,” D’Errico said during an interview Thursday. “But it took two tries to pull him out, and by the time we did, she was long gone.”

Gipson was arrested more than a month later while hitchhiking in Northern California. She was convicted of felony child endangerment in December.

Though she did not testify at her trial, Gipson told a probation officer that she felt that she was not responsible for the boy’s death because she did not tell him to get into the pool.

Superior Court Judge Jean M. Rheinheimer said that Gipson, who faced up to six years in prison, would not receive adequate psychiatric care in prison. The judge worried that Gipson would return to her children with the same psychological problems. The children are living with their father.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Harper said she agreed with the court that Gipson was in need of psychiatric care but felt that Gipson deserved a harsher sentence.

“We pursued charges for this case because of the variety of disturbing circumstances that surrounded it,” Harper said. “She certainly needs help, but in this situation, the incident outweighed that and deserved severe punishment.”

Deputy Public Defender Lewis Clapp asked the court for probation and added that Gipson was in protective custody to prevent assaults from other inmates.