SAN ANTONIO — Joe Byrd knows all too well what a southwest-side family is going through this week after police said a 4-year-old girl appeared to have drowned in a backyard above-ground pool Wednesday evening.
Byrd's own daughter, Tristan, drowned in 2016. She was just 2 years old.
"Everyone was busy around the house and Tristan got outside and jumped in the pool and we did not find her until it was too late," says Byrd.
After Tristan's death, Byrd took action. He created the Miss Tristan Foundation to provide water safety training to 2,500 children a year, as well as CPR training for parents and organizations. To this day, he serves as the foundation's president.
Byrd says drowning is the No. 1 killer of children under the age of 4; in Texas, there are about 100 fatal child drownings a year.
Wednesday's tragedy on the southwest side marks the 48th fatal child drowning in Texas – and 2nd in Bexar County – so far this year. Officials with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) say no criminal charges have been filed in the incident, which is believed to have been accidental.
Police received the call for a missing child around 8 p.m., and found 4-year-old Jazida Hernandez Cervere shortly after arriving—"face-down" in the family pool. They tried to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to a local hospital.
Byrd says families should secure pools with gates, nets and even gate alarms, but adds the most important thing you can do is teach your children to swim.
"You can teach your child at 6 months how to roll over and float if they accidently fall into the pool," says Byrd.
He adds that, if you have a pool, you need to have awareness and be vigilant.
"I don't want any other fathers out there going through life knowing that they didn't fully protect their daughter, and it cost them."