NEWPORT BEACH : After Close Call, Pool to Be Filled In

A back yard pool in Newport Beach in which a toddler nearly drowned will be filled and transformed into a garden, the child’s parents said Wednesday.

“We are definitely going to do something and do something real soon,” said Diana Landis, the child’s mother. “My husband wants to turn it into a garden.”

Landis and her husband on Wednesday thanked Newport Beach Police Officer Bill Graham, who revived 18-month-old Jeffrey.

Jeffrey fell into the pool Saturday while his father retrieved some gardening tools. The father found him floating motionless, called police and attempted to revive the child.

Graham, 25, a father of two, responded. As a military policeman three years ago, Graham said he was once unsuccessful in trying to revive an asphyxiated infant.

“I thought, my God, it’s happening again,” Graham said. “I said to myself, ‘I know that look. It’s death, and I’ve seen it before.’ ”

Graham said he saw the boy was not breathing and no airway had been established. Jeffrey had turned ashen, and his lips and hands were blue. The officer immediately held the infant face-up across his forearm to open his airway. Graham began patting the boy on the back, and Jeffrey began coughing and spitting up water.

“I knew it was real fresh and just happened. Getting him breathing was the first thing,” Graham said.

Jeffrey was released from a hospital Monday in good condition and with no sign of neurological damage.

“After we saw him in the emergency room after an hour or so, we knew he was going to be OK,” Landis said.

When Jeffrey returned home, he showed no fear of the pool. It was almost as though he didn’t remember a thing, Diana Landis said.

Seven children have drowned in Orange County in 1989, according to the Orange County Trauma Center.