Toddler Drowns in Sludge After Falling Into Grease Pit Behind Ice Cream Shop

A 3-year-old little girl was reported missing after playing with her siblings on the grounds of an ice cream shop in Auburn, Alabama, on Saturday. Police received a 911 call reporting a child missing from Bruster’s Real Ice Cream at about 1 p.m. and by the time they arrived at that location, the child had been found.

When police arrived, the child was unresponsive. The toddler had been discovered inside an in-ground grease pit on the premises of the ice cream shop. Both the child’s family members and employees of Bruster’s Real Ice Cream were performing CPR on the child when police arrived, but it was to no avail.

The toddler was worked on by family members, employees of the store, and medical professionals at the scene, but they could not revive her. She was missing for about 5-10 minutes before she was found and during that span of time, she was in that 6-foot-deep grease pit, which is filled with a sludge-like substance.

The little girl was transported to the East Alabama Medical Center, according to OA Now, where she was pronounced dead in the emergency room of that facility.

Unlike drowning in water, which is easily ejected from the body during rescue attempts in near-drownings, the substance in that grease pit is a thick liquid the consistency of sludge, so it is much thicker than water. Authorities watched the video surveillance tapes that were overlooking the area where the child was playing, which is also where the grease pit is located.

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She was seen playing with two of her siblings when she fell into the grease trap. The lid covering one of the grease pits on the property appeared to give way while the child was playing on top of it. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said foul play was not suspected in this case.

Authorities are calling the death of this 3-year-old child an “accidental drowning.” Police will still continue with the investigation into the death of the toddler despite preliminary findings pointing to an accidental drowning, according to WTVM News. The death investigation indicates the little girl drowned in the 6-foot-deep sludge that was stored in one of the grease pits on the premises.

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The sign on the door at this Alabama ice cream shop read: “Closed for today, sorry for the inconvenience,” which is the message they offered to the public when they kept the shop closed for the remaining of the day on Saturday. There is no word on why the cover was so easily disturbed and moved enough for the toddler to fall in.

Harris asked that people keep the family in their prayers after this horrific accident has taken the life of this toddler.

[Featured Image by Kokliang/Shutterstock]