The stories surrounding the tragic deaths have conflicted the beginning when cops responded to the scene just before 4 p.m. on June 24. Allen first told cops she had her back turned when the children. None of whom had flotation devices, sank in the pool and that she yelled for help when she realized they were underwater.
August Smith. 10,died the same day, while 9-year-old Treshawn and 11-year-old Anthony Smith died three days later.
But witnesses later reported Allen was on her phone and not paying any attention, while another said she only sounded the alarm after he or she walked into the pool area. According to the Morning News.
Allen first said neither she nor the children could swim, then said on TV her kids had been Swimming before, though she finally told cops the kids “could only float on their backs and tread water,” the newspaper reported.
But Allen’s husband told KTVT the children could swim well enough they could be in the water. While a family spokesman defended the mom as “far from a criminal.”
“She is a loving, caring and one of the sweetest people I’ve met for the first time. And she’s a grieving mother,” Anthony Bond told the TV station. “Everybody‘s saying that she’s an irresponsible mother – squash that! It’s not true!”
The pool in question has been cited for past violation, including having murky water, gates that don’t latch and a need for new life poles, according to the Morning News. ‘