Little girl drowns at Cordova hotel pool

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A child drowned at a Cordova hotel swimming pool early Thursday.

A little after 12:30 a.m., officers responded to the Comfort Inn & Suites on North Germantown Parkway, where police say a four-year-old girl fell into a swimming pool.

She was taken to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

We spoke with the big sister of the little girl who drowned. She said her baby sister’s name is Dior, and she was five, although police have listed her age as four.

Hotel guests Christopher Chavez and his wife Amy Chavez had checked in while they were passing through on their way to Louisiana. They say they saw Dior and another little sister playing shortly before the accident.

Little did they know they would be called to save the child later.

“We were about to go in the room and the manager came out and said, ‘I need you to call 911 – a little girl drowned in the pool,'” Christopher Chavez said.

They performed CPR on the victim for 15 to 20 minutes before first responders arrived.

“Absolute panic,” Amy Chavez said. “When I heard the manager yelling — I’m CPR trained, and as a mother also, I just took off running. I ran down the hall and got to her as fast as I could.”

Two charged after pot, meth found at Byhalia, MS town official’s home

According to the Chavez family, when asked to describe the heartbreaking moment when they heard the cries for help, they say they saw the pool unlocked, and children, in their words, “unsupervised.”

“It’s a pool and it’s water. As a safety precaution I think that should be locked at all times,” Amy Chavez said. “As a mother, I would never let my kids be unsupervised. I was shocked that she was unsupervised, both of them were unsupervised.”

Before the Chavez family headed out, they prayed Dior’s family would find the strength to weather this terrible storm.

“It breaks your heart,” Christopher Chavez said. “If you can, pray for the family and hope that she’s with Jesus right now.”

Nonprofit claims bible verse painted on police department wall unconstitutional

WREG went into the hotel to get their take, but were told they did not want to comment at this time.

A Choice Hotels spokesperson later sent this statement: “We are deeply saddened to hear about this tragic incident. As this is an independently owned and operated franchised hotel, please contact the hotel directly for any further questions.”

Police say the investigation into what happened is still under review.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.