A 10-year-old girl from Tacoma died Friday, five days after witnesses pulled her from the water of Lake Tapps, Pierce County sheriff's officials said.
Deputies responded to calls around 2 p.m. Aug. 16 of a possible drowning near North Lake Tapps Park, an area popular for swimming and boating.
The girl was about 10 to 20 feet from shore, in water about 10 to 20 feet deep, without a life jacket. She was pulled from the water by witnesses about 10 minutes later, and a sheriff’s deputy began CPR, spokesperson Deputy Carly Cappetto said. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The sheriff's office said she was in stable condition at a Pierce County hospital about three hours after the first call, but died five days later, according to a public post the Pierce County Medical Examiner.
Although an official cause of death has not yet been determined, the sheriff's office does not suspect any foul play.
This is just a tragic incident and nobody is at fault," Capetto said.
Capetto offered condolences on behalf of the department, and highlighted the heroic emergency response.
"All the bystanders, deputies, first responders and medical professionals worked incredibly hard to keep her alive and were really rooting for her," Capetto said. "This has hit the whole community hard.
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