911 Tape Tells Frantic Efforts to Revive Boy : Drowning: As in another child’s death only days before, no barriers were around the pool, and half a dozen people were in the home at the time.

A 911 tape released by fire and police officials Friday indicates that the family of a 22-month-old boy frantically tried to resuscitate him after finding the youngster floating face down in a back-yard pool.

Police have termed the 7:15 p.m. Thursday drowning of Michael T. Hoffman Jr., in the 2100 block of Nautical Street, an accident, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Tom Mathisen.

“We have no further investigation,” Mathisen said. “That is all it is.”

It was the second drowning in the city in a week, and both fatalities bear striking similarities. On Monday night, 23-month-old Cindy Vu died when she fell into the pool of her parent’s house in the 1000 block of North Laguna Street.

In both cases, there were no fences or other barriers around the pools. And at least half a dozen people were at each home--located about 7 miles apart--when the tragedies occurred.

Michael’s parents Friday declined to discuss details of the accident.

But a five-minute 911 tape, during which family members talk first to police and then fire dispatchers, reveals that at least six people, one of them a 13-year-old girl, were home at the time Michael plunged into the pool, which was only partially filled with water.

The tape graphically reveals the dramatic scene that unfolded after Michael was discovered.

“The baby fell in the pool!” cried a 13-year-old girl, who was kept on the line while dispatcher Janice Wildermuth sent emergency crews.

“Is the baby out of the pool?” Wildermuth asked.

“Mikey fell in the pool!” the unidentified girl repeated. In the background, screams and shouts could be heard clearly.

“Is the baby out of the pool?” Wildermuth asked again, this time loudly and deliberately.

Seconds later, Wildermuth directed the boy’s grandmother, who is a nurse trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to try to revive the toddler.

But neither the grandmother, Shirley Stewart, nor the baby’s father could get the boy breathing. Anaheim Police Officer Todd Seiders, who arrived at the scene five minutes after the call came in, saw Orange Fire Department paramedics struggling to revive the boy. He decided not to wait for the ambulance, which fire officials said had become stuck in traffic, and put the toddler in the back seat of his police car. Seiders rushed the boy to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was later pronounced dead.

Police Lt. Ray Welch said the boy’s father told police officers that there was confusion among the adults as to who was watching the boy.

At the household where Cindy Vu died, meanwhile, the family was trying to cope with its loss.

An aunt of Cindy, who declined to be identified and who said she was not at the house at the time of the drowning, said the youngster was the Vus’ firstborn and the darling of the house, where six other relatives also lived.

The aunt said that on Monday, another aunt and a cousin were baby-sitting Cindy while the toddler’s parents worked.

About 3:15 p.m., the aunt put the baby to sleep in her parents’ bedroom and left the room, she said. At 4 p.m., Cindy’s father, Phi Vu, came home from work and could not find his daughter in the house. She was found in the pool.

“We have been going crazy these past days,” the aunt said. Cindy was buried Wednesday in Anaheim.