News 8
Mom of boy drowned in pool seeks help for burial 
10:48 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Last year, 82 children drowned in Texas. So far in 2009, with two months left in the summer, the number of children who have drowned has already reached 60.
"He's so handsome," said Haydee Daniels of her 6-year-old son Samuel, who drowned June 26. "He always told me, 'I want to buy three big houses, big three-story houses.'"
Daniels said Samuel was a good son who tried to be the man of the house after his father died in November.
"He missed his daddy and he said, 'We'll be okay,'" she said.
Daniels said she asked the landlord to put a safety fence around the pool, but that never happened.
One day while her son was playing inside their apartment, Daniels said she went to the bathroom. When she returned only a few minutes later, she said he had disappeared. After searching the complex, she found her son's lifeless body in the pool's murky water, which is about six-feet deep.
"When I go to the hospital, I brought his underwear, his shoes, shirt, pants and clothes because I'm thinking, 'Oh Lord, please, I love my son. Please save him,'" she said.
Daniels said Samuel was only allowed to swim in the shallow end of the pool and was supposed to get permission beforehand.
Samuel, who has a one-year-old brother, had just graduated from kindergarten.
Daniels, a widow, said she now has one last wish for her son. Since she is without a job, Daniels said she cannot afford to pay for Samuel's funeral.
"I want my son to be buried," she said. "He deserves it, because he's a good boy."
A website, called www.danielsfamilyfund.com, has been set up to help the Daniels' family with Samuel's burial arrangements.
Safety experts suggest parents with pools should install alarms on doors and windows that lead to the pool and build a non-climbable five-foot fence between the house and the pool. They also suggest having rescue equipment mounted near the pool.
E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com
