DURHAM, NC (WNCN) – The 3-year-old girl who had to be saved from a Durham lake after her father tried to drown her and her siblings died Wednesday, Durham police said.
Two children, ages 3 and 5, were pulled from the water by a Durham sheriff’s deputy. A third child, 7, escaped and called for help.Alan Tysheen Eugene Lassiter, 29, of Holloway Terrace in Raleigh, was placed in the Durham County Jail under a $2,250,000 bond after police say he tossed his children into a lake on Shearwater Drive behind the Audubon Lake Apartments Sunday.
The 5-year-old girl has since been released from the hospital.
The 3-year-old died Wednesday, Durham police said.
Lassiter called 911 after the incident. In the call, Lassiter expressed that he was dealing with having sexual feelings toward children.
“CPS was trying to take my kids away from me. All I did was try to go get help … because I was dealing with some [inaudible] things, OK?” he said. “I was dealing with some sexual desires. I started to go get help with, but instead they turned their back on me, the whole system and tried to take my kids [crying inaudible]… Y’all take this and y’all left me. When somebody asks for help, really help them OK? Really help them, because y’all didn’t help me.”
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Off-duty deputy David Earp pulled the two children out of the lake. Officers performed CPR on the children until EMS arrived.
During the 911 call, Lassiter also asked that someone break the news to his wife, Ashley Ivey.
“She’s going to be in shock, she’s going to be in shock,” Lassiter told the 911 operator.
Police have not said why Lassiter tried to drown his children, but Lassiter told the 911 operator that Child Protective Services was to blame.
“You blame CPS for this. You blame CPS. These [expletive] are dumb. They try to take people’s kids over dumb [expletive] and this is what you get! All I wanted was help! Ever since I tried to go get help, my problems got a hundred times worse,” he said. “Nobody was there for me!”
