Family speaks out after toddler’s drowning death

Jinae West

Patrick White and Heather Cerrillo held a news conference Thursday at their home to speak about their 2-year-old son, Dayne, who drowned in their back yard pool on June 28.

By Jinae West (contact)

Thursday, July 9, 2009 | 1:04 p.m.

After losing their 2-year-old son, Dayne, in a June drowning accident, Patrick White and Heather Cerrillo spoke at a news conference by their back yard pool Thursday to caution other parents to watch their children closely.

"We're out here to share with everybody, unfortunately, our sad story that we've had to deal with over the last 10 days," White said. "We just want everyone to realize how much you really have to watch these beautiful kids."

On June 28, White said he woke up early in the morning to take his children and a few of their neighborhood friends to Desert Breeze Aquatic Center. He said he unlocked the sliding glass door to grab some towels on the patio from the previous day's activities by the pool and then went back into the house to get ready. White said the kids were playing video games inside until one of them asked where the baby was.

White said he searched for his son in the garage and the front yard before he heard one of the neighborhood boys say Dayne was in the pool.

"I ran back there and grabbed my baby from him, and I automatically started performing CPR on (Dayne)," he said.

White said he encourages CPR certification because his training helped to keep him calm. He said he knew exactly what he had to do at that moment.

"Any other moment, I would've been like any other parent running down the street with my baby in my arms not knowing, but I knew what to do," he said. "So before the two, two and a half minutes before the ambulance got here, I was lucky enough to try to save his life."

With tears in her eyes, Cerrillo stood at her husband's side during the news conference. They held hands from beginning to end.

White said Dayne was taken to Spring Valley Hospital where the doctors performed CPR for 50 minutes.

"You can never watch your kids enough," he said. "Take all precautions. Have gates, have alarms, have locks.

"Unfortunately, faith alone doesn't keep you safe. I was the father who thought, 'No, my baby's going to be OK out here.' He wasn't. He just wasn't. And he knew how to swim. All my kids know how to swim."

He paused.

He said he and his wife decided to donate Dayne's organs, and the knowledge that their son will help others, even in death, gives the family strength. It also helps, he said, to know their tragedy might prevent others.

"However bad a thing may have happened here, we want as much good as we can to come out of it," Cerrillo said.

Metro Police Lt. Ray Steiber said six children have died from drowning this year. Three near drownings were reported yesterday. He said at the end of 2008, seven drownings resulting in death had been reported.

"This is a trend we do not like to see. This is a trend that we, as a police department and as a community, need to all work together and partner together with," Steiber said. "We're asking for the public's help with this.

"Day after day, we're seeing the same story. And we don't want to have to tell this story anymore."