Police: Sand Springs Toddler Drowns In Pool

The Sand Springs Police Department says a two-year-old girl drowned in a backyard in-ground pool Tuesday morning. The little girl was a foster child of a Sand Springs police officer.

In the small town, the 33 officer force was being as supportive as they could for their fellow officer.

Officers got the call to the home in the 500 block of Overholt Drive at 9:40 a.m.  When they arrived, EMSA and firefighters said the toddler had been pronounced dead.

"He was at work. He was out here serving the public, doing what he needed to do and a call comes out. It's terrible when you hear your own address on the call," said Deputy Police Chief, Mike Carter.

Carter said the officer was one of the first to arrive on scene, but there wasn't anything they could do for the two year old who had somehow gotten through a safety fence and into the pool.

"When it's one of your own, it kind of impacts you a little bit more on a personal level. Normally it's that dispassionate, it's part of what we come to work every day and do. When it's one of your own you look at that," Carter said.

Police said the toddler was one of three foster children living in the home and it was the little girl's foster mother who found her in the pool and attempted CPR while calling police.

The other two foster children were removed from the home while DHS investigates and the Sand Springs police department will assist in that investigation.

"This won't be handled any different on the investigation than anybody else would be, because we can't do that" Carter said. "Other people will look at this, you know. And you hear the jaded people out in the public that say, ‘well, it's a cop, so they're not gonna do…' Other people will look at this."

Carter said the department did not release the officer's name because they needed to wait to tell the biological family of the little girl.

Carter also said the officer can take whatever time he needs before returning to work and that all officers that responded the Tuesday morning call will be given the option of counseling if they think it's something they need.