PLUM, Pa. - A Pennsylvania man whose 3-year-old daughter drowned last week is now facing charges after police say he left his two young children alone in the pool to go inside and make a cocktail.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, 27-year-old Charles Mitchell told officers he returned to the backyard Aug. 1 to find his daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool and pulled her out and started CPR.
Mitchell has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. No attorney is listed in court documents.
Police say he told them his 4-year-old son wanted to swim but his daughter didn't, so he put a life vest on his son and his daughter stayed outside while he left for five minutes to fix a ginger ale mixed with an apple-flavored alcohol.
They say he later changed his statement to say it was only ginger ale.