INFANT'S DROWNING BRINGS PANEL WARNING ABOUT WATER-FILLED PAILS

An infant's drowning last month has prompted Cape Girardeau County officials to warn parents and grandparents that 5-gallon buckets can be deadly hazards to small children.

Kiana L. Willis, 10 months, drowned July 30 at her home at 632 Good Hope after falling into a 15-inch high, 5-gallon bucket filled with mop water.

The Child Fatality Review Panel, which convened Aug. 13 to review the infant's death, issued the warning Monday.

Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Carpenter ruled the infant's death accidental after the panel's meeting and an investigation conducted by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said no criminal charges would be filed.

Swingle said panel members learned in the course of the investigation that the danger 5-gallon buckets present to toddlers is "under-appreciated and significant."

Panel members urged adults to never leave buckets unattended in areas where curious toddlers can get to them.

"It is something that has happened nationwide," said Mark Hasheider, training officer for the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and one of the rescuers who responded to the scene when Willis drowned.

New buckets carry warning labels, he said.

"It happened here in Cape Girardeau. The week after next it will happen somewhere else," Hasheider said.

The buckets and other items that hold water, including commodes, are "purely an attraction to a small child, especially one that's just starting to walk. And they're top-heavy. They're able to go in head-first but unable to pull themselves back out," he said.

Hasheider pointed out it only takes a few inches of water for a child to drown.

Parents and grandparents need to be aware of buckets, commodes and other such items and take steps to prevent small children from falling in and drowning, he said.

The bucket in which Willis drowned had been left filled overnight with water from a previous cleaning, investigators said.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department and a panel member, said the buckets are so commonly used that many people never realize what a danger they pose to young children.

"It was so tragic. It's something that just didn't occur to us," Craig said.

The panel cited statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that an estimated 50 infants and toddlers drown annually in buckets containing liquid for household chores. Most of the victims are between 8 and 14 months old.

From 1984 to 1992, more than 200 children were reported to have drowned in buckets, and 21 others were hospitalized, according to the safety commission.

Child Fatality Review Panels were established statewide in 1991 to improve the detection of child-abuse or neglect fatalities. The panels meet immediately after the death of any child under 14 to review the circumstances of the death and make sure no deaths caused by abuse or neglect fall through the cracks.

Cape Girardeau County's panel is made up of representatives of the prosecuting attorney's office, the county health department, the coroner, the Division of Family Services, the juvenile office, Cape County Private Ambulance Service, the sheriff's department, the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments, the Cape Girardeau and Jackson fire departments and local physicians Dr. James Hoffman and Dr. Rod Crist.