'Stepdaughter almost drowned in my pool and her mom and others are blaming me.' MAJOR UPDATE

"Stepdaughter almost drowned in my pool and her mom and others are blaming me."

Saturday night I came back home at around 6pm and my husband called me saying that he was supposed to pick up his daughter (5) from her mom's and that he's stuck at work so her mom would drop her off at our place. I said okay and I was watching TV and expecting them to arrive soon.

Around 8pm my dog started barking and jumping at the window and when I went to see what's going on I noticed the pool water was wavy. I went outside and saw the little girl in the water and she was unconscious. I pulled her out and she wasn't breathing. I called the ambulance while trying to revive her.

The ambulance arrived within 10 mins and I genuinely thought she drowned but thankfully they managed to save her. She is completely okay now. The thing is, I had no idea that her mom had already dropped her off. She didn't knock or anything so she probably just left her in front of the house. Her mom also came when she found out and she was trying to blame me, telling me I tried to murder her daughter.

I already told my husband that they didn't knock or enter the house and I had no idea the girl was even there. Everything became even more messy, basically the woman kept on yelling at me, telling me how she's going to fight me and things like how she's going to hold me under water so I "see how that feels"

First off all, if it wasn't for my dog barking at the window I would have no idea the girl was in the pool and she would drown because I had no f#$king idea that the moron dropped her off in front of the house without even knocking or anything. I said this and she SPIT at me. The cops ended up holding her back and then my husband came back too and it was just so sh#$ty.

After this I got calls from her parents and they also tried to threaten me on phone but I just shut them down. A couple other people who ig she said her version of this to called me and yeah, same thing. I know or at least feel like it's not my fault but at this point I want to clarify more.

I forgot to say that I do have a fence around the house, in the backyard and it's usually locked but that day it wasn't which I know is my fault.

Also as I said this is my house, this was the first time the girl was here so I have no idea why would her mom just drop her off in front of a house she's never been to and no idea why did the girl go for the pool when she couldn't have seen it from the street, like idk why did she go to backyard.

I'm not blaming her, I'm just explaining. Also my country doesn't have a law for fence directly around the pool, there is usually a cover but I wanted the water to get warmer. I don't live here but I'm currently renovating.

The internet had a lot to say in response.

Green_Aide_9329 wrote:

NTA. I'd also be putting up a doorbell camera and fencing that pool ASAP.

Johoski wrote:

Louder: And fencing that pool ASAP.

redditorperth wrote:

Just out of curiosity, is pool fencing not mandatory in America? Im an Aussie, and we have mandatory laws across the country that require pools to have fences (to greater or lesser degrees). There's penalties if you dont comply, we run TV ads that warn about the risk of child drowning, etc. I live in a world where I can't imagine a pool not having a fence.

Heatros wrote:

I can’t speak for all states, but for most a fence is required. That said, a fence around your back yard in many states suffices, and a second one around the pool is not. I’m wondering the little girl didn’t go straight to the back yard because she wanted to get into the pool. It always scares me, they’re so enticing for little ones!

Ennuidownloaddone wrote:

Of course it's not your fault, it's the mother's. But you need to get ahead of this immediately. Start telling everyone everywhere your side of the story and exactly what the mother did.

Otherwise, because I've seen this before, you'll be crucified in the court of public opinion and it will ruin your social standing, destroy your relationship with your in laws, and result in divorce. You have to fix the narrative of what really happened in people's heads or they will all believe the mother. NTA.

Idkbutok92 wrote:

I would also set up hidden outside cameras, if she just drops the daughter off and drives away.

Hx3ney wrote:

Check with your neighbors, they might have caught it on their cameras.

The next day, OP shared an update.

I won't fully go into details but my husband talked to his daughter (I still haven't spoken to her or seen her since) and he asked her what happened. So they arrived to the back of the house and not actually to the front because they thought that was the front, which is fine. Still, the mom did just drop her off and drove away thinking she's going to knock on the door and come inside.

Thankfully, neighbours camera actually caught one side of the car and it very obviously shows that the car stopped for not more than 30 seconds and since it caught the driver's side, it's visible that the driver, the mom, didn't exit the car and drove away. So the girl said that she was going to knock on the door but she saw a frog in the grass by the pool and wanted to pick it and bring inside.

Gate for the backyard was open and she went inside, frog was running away from her and fell in the pool. She tried to reach for the frog and fell inside. Even though what happened was horrible, thankfully she is okay now and it didn't cause any serious damage.

I already said in my previous post that the gate was unlocked but, even worse, she walked in through other side which was completely open. Thankfully the pool wasn't covered because if she stepped on the cover it would literally trap her inside.

I feel really bad for what happened, knowing that part of leaving the gate open was my fault but at least the worst outcome didn't happen.

I won't share anymore about anything related to situation with mom and police.

The internet was glad to hear the update.

KittenAndTheQuil wrote:

Wow, so she knows she was the one who almost killed her kid and she still had the nerve to blame you and SPIT on you. She abandoned a 5-year-old in front of a house neither had ever been to and just drove off...

BefuddledPolydactyls wrote:

Worse, actually at the back of the house rather than the front.

OP responded:

The back looks similar to front so I get that she didn't see but still the gate was open, she saw that.

MajorNoodles wrote:

Maybe if she had gotten out of the car instead of practically dumping her kid out she would have figured it out and her kid wouldn't have almost d**d.

Zappingbaby wrote:

Exactly...I would NEVER have dropped off my 5 yr old kid and just driven off, anywhere, let alone at a house s/he's never been to. What if no one was home? What if OP had an emergency and had to run to the grocery store to get a pint of Ben and Jerry's??

MrsRetiree2Be wrote:

Again NTA. That child should never have been dropped off without her mother making sure that she got safely inside your house. Please get locks and additional safety measures for your pool. And give yourself some grace.

OP responded:

The mom doesn't really interact with me 🤷🏻‍♀️ if I text her something about her daughter she just leaves me on seen and answers through my husband. I guess she didn't want to see me or whatever but I don't understand how can she willingly leave her kid with someone she doesn't even want to interact with.

MaryS8921 wrote:

Did the child's mother know that there was a pool in the backyard? You said she had never been there before and didn't know the back of the house was not the front. Could she see the pool through the open gate at the point where she dropped the child off?

OP responded:

She knew about the pool but also since they came from the back of the house and the gate was open she could see the pool from the street.

NeeliSilverleaf wrote:

That makes her negligence suspicious as hell.