2-Year-Old Drowns After Slipping Away From Mother

A 2-year-old boy drowned Tuesday in the family swimming pool after he slipped from his mother’s sight and opened an unlocked back door, police said.

Monica Hinojoza, 18, told police that her son, Christian Bustamontes, was with her as she was doing housework in the kitchen. But when she turned her back on him for several minutes, he managed to disappear, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust said.

The mother searched the house in the 700 block of South Flintridge Drive for about five minutes and discovered a bedroom sliding door ajar, Faust said.

Hinojoza rushed to the backyard and found the child floating in the water.

She pulled the boy from the water and called police and fire officials, who attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation but were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center.

“The pool has a fence around it but the pool can be accessed from the bedroom sliding door,” Faust said.

“The door apparently had been closed but unlocked. But when the mother found the baby, the door was open.”

Tuesday’s accident was the second drowning this week. A 12-year-old girl died Sunday in the family hot tub in Huntington Beach after her hair apparently got sucked into an underwater intake vent of the spa and trapped her underwater.