Mother arrested after child nearly drowns in hotel pool while being left unattended, police say

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) - A mother in South Carolina has been arrested after her child was pulled from a resort pool last week.

Myrtle Beach police were called Friday to the Caribbean Resort on North Ocean Boulevard for the near-drowning incident.

According to an arrest warrant, video surveillance showed Ana Becerra-Lira taking pictures of her child in a shallow hot tub before walking away to sit in a lounge chair, out of sight from the child.

Authorities said while she was away, the child got out of the hot tub and jumped into a 5-foot pool, where they went underwater for about six minutes before being pulled out of the water.

Becerra-Lira allegedly didn’t know where her child was or that her child had been pulled from the pool and given CPR.

Police arrested her on Monday and charged her with unlawfully placing a child at risk of or causing harm or willfully abandoning the child.

She has since been released from the Myrtle Beach jail on a $1,000 bond.

The child was taken to the hospital on Friday for medical treatment, according to the Myrtle Beach Fire Department.