ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police say a woman failed to act for more than 5 minutes as a child in her care was drowning.
That woman, Sukanthini Subbiah, 48, is now facing an aggravated manslaughter charge for the 7-year-old’s death.
Police initially believed this was an accident, but now say evidence shows Subbiah was “culpably negligent.”
The drowning happened on April 10th at the Everbe Clubhouse pool.
According to the arrest report, Subbiah is a physician who lives in Louisiana. Investigators said she was staying in the Everbe community with family at the time of the incident.
During that stay, she told investigators her son played with the neighboring 7-year-old twins.
According to investigators, on the day of the drowning, Subbiah was given permission by the twins’ mother to take the kids on a play date at the pool.
Investigators said surveillance video shows the children entering the pool at 6:19 pm. By 6:20 pm, investigators said the 7-year-old boy in Subbiah’s care was seen drowning.
According to investigators, the child wasn’t pulled out of the water for more than 7 minutes. Police said during that time, Subbiah watched the drowning happen, sent the other 7-year-olds to retrieve him, and failed to personally intervene.
Investigators said the decision to “rely upon other seven-year-old children to attempt a rescue constituted a course of conduct demonstrating a gross and flagrant disregard for the decedent’s safety.”
According to investigators, the incident was “more than an unfortunate accidental drowning.” Investigators stated that Subbiah was the sole adult responsible for the decedent at the time of the emergency and, as a doctor, had the knowledge to recognize the danger and intervene.
“Her failure to do so allowed the decedent’s submersion and oxygen deprivation to continue until another adult ultimately performed the rescue she had failed to undertake,” investigators said.
Subbiah was booked into the Orange County Jail on Monday. Her defense attorney, Rajan Joshi, said she voluntarily turned herself in, has cooperated with investigators, and plans on fighting the charges.
“Accidents do happen every day. We don’t see criminal liability in this case,” said Joshi.
Joshi declined to comment on the timeline or the specific facts presented by investigators for the time being, but said this was a true tragedy.
“This is a person who’s dedicated her life to saving people’s lives, has a good heart, and never had any problems with the law,” said Joshi, “She plans on fighting these charges in court.”
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