A mum has told of the devastating moment she found her toddler face down in the water after he drowned in a hot tub.
BrieOcea Harris enjoyed swimming with her two-and-a-half-year-old son Romeo every day at their apartment complex.
But things quickly took a tragic turn when her little boy went missing — just three minutes after the pair arrived at the pool area.
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After a distressing search, she found Romeo unresponsive in the water of the hot tub.
“It felt like a dream. I kept telling myself to wake up, wake up… but I was living in my worst nightmare,” the 26-year-old tells 7Life.
As she frantically pulled him out of the water to perform CPR, she knew instantly her son was gone.
Before the tragedy, the mum and son were regular visitors of their apartment’s communal pool area in California.
She started putting Romeo in a “puddle jumper”, a type of one-piece swimwear vest — consisting of arm floaties attached to a chest band to help support a child’s upper body in the water.
“I put him in a puddle jumper for three days in a row ‘for fun’,” BrieOcea explains.
“Romeo knew he couldn’t swim… he was always very careful around water until I put him in a puddle jumper.
“He then thought he could float.”
‘I knew to be careful’
The mum says she never left Romeo unattended in the water when she took him to the pool daily.
“I knew to watch him, I knew to be careful,” she says.
However, one day in July 2022, the little boy raced off to play with another kid at a nearby bench.
“We had only been in the pool area for three minutes. We had just barely walked in,” she says.
“Romeo runs ahead because he sees another kid. The mum with the kid sees me so we sit down to talk.”
As the mums were talking, Romeo quietly went into the hot tub.
“He followed the kid into the water when I wasn’t looking,” BrieOcea says.
“Romeo normally would not do this because he always waited for me.
“But this time, he just went straight to the water like he can swim.”
‘I don’t see him’
After taking her eyes off the toddler for two minutes, she quickly realised he was nowhere to be seen.
“I scan the area, I don’t see him,” she recalls.
As she yelled out her son’s name, she spotted the boy — who was last seen with Romeo — sitting up in the hot tub.
“I don’t see Romeo so I start walking towards the hot tub,” she explains.
“I see him face down in the water.”
What happened next felt like a blur, BrieOcea explains.
“I just felt like it wasn’t my experience,” she says.
“I had literally stepped into my worst nightmare.
“Colours started to get mushy, it was that feeling of running through sand.”
The mum made desperate attempts to save his life before emergency services arrived.
“I picked him up and I could tell when I picked him up he was not in his body… His spirit had already left his body,” she says.
‘Complete shock’
“His lips and face were turning blue. His body was convulsing.
“I started doing CPR on him. There’s a crowd of people forming around us and everybody looks sick.
“I’m at this point screaming for help.
“I was just in a state of shock, I was in a state of panic. It was just complete shock.”
Paramedics continued CPR on Romeo for 40 minutes before a pulse was found.
Romeo was in a coma for two days before the family made the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support on July 4.
“Romeo had a very sweet composition about him. He was very sweet, loving in his nature, had a cute little man bun… so wild, fun and adventurous but he was always careful,” she says.
“He would make friends with anybody. He would see random kids playing at the park, he’d run up to them and say, ‘Hi friend’ and just instantly become best friends.
“Losing him still doesn’t feel real. It feels like he should just be in the other room watching TV.”
‘I blame myself every day’
Reflecting on the harrowing day, BrieOcea says she can’t help but feel guilt.
“I should have been more attentive and more careful,” she says.
“I should not have ever taken my eyes off him being around water.
“I take responsibility and blame myself every day.”
If she could turn back time, the mum says there are things she would have done differently.
“I wish I would have put him in swim lessons,” she says.
“I wish I had known exactly how dangerous water was and how fast your child can drown.
“I wish I had never put him in a floatation device and I wish I never took my eyes off him, ever, near a body of water.”
‘Mum guilt could destroy me’
BrieOcea says she struggled with grief for a long time.
“The hardest part is I think about him needing his mum and trying to scream for me… I’m right there but I didn’t know, I wasn’t there,” she explains.
“The ‘what ifs’, regret, and mum guilt could destroy me.
“But I choose to focus on him spiritually being with me, and his excitement for his and my existence eternally.”
By sharing her experience, the mum wanted to warn parents about the dangers of putting young kids in flotation devices.
“Do not put your kids in puddle jumpers,” she urges.
“I did not realise at that time but the puddle jumper made my kid think he could float.
“Puddle jumpers give your kids a false sense of security and make them think they can float.”
‘Drowning is silent’
Her story also serves as a warning to all parents to be vigilant when swimming with kids.
“Drowning is the leading cause of death for children,” she says.
“Drowning is fast and silent, your kid can drown in under 30 seconds. Drowning is not obvious, it can happen right under your nose.”
In Australia, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in children aged one to three years.
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