ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – A family friend has been charged in last summer’s death of a child in a pool at an Onslow County apartment complex.
The six-year-old girl drowned on July 30th at Liberty Pointe Apartments. An autopsy identified her as Aniyah Taylor.
Deputies say the child was in the care of Dominique Lewis. They say surveillance video showed the child jumping into the pool’s four-foot section and struggling to swim to the surface. Some 15 minutes later, the video showed another child noticed the girl underwater and called for help.
Deputies say at the time, Lewis was there but preoccupied and not supervising the girl.
Lewis on Tuesday was charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent child abuse with serious bodily injury.
The autopsy said Taylor was at a sleepover at the apartment complex on July 29th with a friend, and that the two, along with the friend’s mother and older brother, went to the pool the next morning. It says the mother retrieved the girl’s body from the pool.
Deputies explained they were waiting for the girl’s autopsy to be finalized, confirming she drowned, before bringing charges.
Lewis was jailed on a $75,000 secured bond.