A father in North Carolina has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after a sheriff's deputy rescued two girls who had been thrown into a pond at night and left to drown.
The incident occurred Sunday at 9 p.m. when Durham County Sheriff's Deputy David Earp was off duty and heard a story from the complex's property manager about children who were possibly in trouble, according to ABC's North Carolina affiliate ABC 11.
"I heard something about children, that they might possibly be in trouble," Earp, 26, said in an interview Tuesday. "And after I was informed that there were kids involved, instinct took over just to go out there and rescue them."
Rushing out of his apartment in little more than his department T-shirt, badge and flashlight, Earp rushed over the to the pond where the trouble was allegedly taking place. Upon arrival, the deputy spotted a 5-year-old girl floating and crying, while her 3-year-old sister was already completely submerged. He immediately dove in the water, which was reportedly 5 feet deep, and scooped them up, with one child in each arm, according to Fox News.
He was preoccupied with trying to rescue the two girls, so he didn't notice the girl's father, Alan Tysheen Eugene Lassiter, 29, of Raleigh, who was nearby watching the event unfold.
According to authorities, Lassiter threw the girls into the pond and admitted to doing so in a 911 call. During the call he told a dispatcher that officials had tried to take his children away as he dealt with a "personal" problem. At one point during the call, he could be heard telling the complex's property manager that he "just drowned [his] two daughters in the lake back there," according to the Associated Press.
Lassiter, who was at the pond throughout the entire incident, was charged with three counts of attempted murder, one count for each of his daughters, and a third for their 7-year-old brother who had escaped and was looking for help. Lassiter was jailed with bond set at $2 million, and has a court hearing set for next month.
According to authorities the older girl is in good condition, but the younger girl is in critical condition.
Earp has no children of his own, but says the incident continues to reverberate for him.
"It plays over in my mind a lot, as I'm sure with any person," he said. "Hopefully these kids will push through."
