Louisiana Doctor Arrested for Allegedly Watching, Bbut Refusing to Help Drowning Child for at Least 5 Minutes Straight

A Louisiana doctor has been charged with aggravated manslaughter after a child drowned while she allegedly watched and did nothing.

Sukanthini Subbiah, 48, is charged in connection with the April death of Khushil Bandi, 7, at the Everbe Clubhouse pool in Orlando, court records said, according to the New York Post.

Police said Subbiah was “culpably negligent,” according to WFTV-TV.

Subbiah was in Florida with family members when her son and a pair of neighboring 7-year-old twins went to a local pool.

Subbiah told police the girl wore a life vest, while the eventual drowning victim did not, and so she told police she “assumed” he was able to swim, according to Law and Crime.

Her version was that Khushil went underwater for “45 seconds or so” before she asked the other children to help, an affidavit said. She then asked another adult to rescue the boy, called 911, and performed CPR.

Surveillance video showed the boy swimming toward the center of the pool before “abruptly” turning, the affidavit said, adding, “The decedent is now observed turning in circles and splashing vigorously.”

The time was 6:20 p.m.

Video showed Subbiah walk to the edge of the pool and put a finger to her mouth, as if to ask for quiet, before heeding a request from her son to get his goggles.

The affidavit said Khushil went underwater at 6:21 p.m. after “actively drowning” for more than a minute.

The affidavit said Subbiah was “staring at the center of the pool.”

At 6:23 p.m., the two children who remained asked where the victim had gone. Subbiah entered the pool at 6:26 p.m., the affidavit said, but “stopped” in knee-high water. Police noted it was not five minutes since the boy slid under the surface.

The affidavit said it was at that point Subbiah asked the children to bring the victim to the surface, but they could not. She then asked a man sitting by the pool for help. By the time Khushil was brought to the surface, he had been underwater for seven minutes.

Subbiah later told police she thought the victim was underwater for only about two minutes and told police she “froze.”

“Based on her profession and training, Subbiah understands the limited time a person can remain submerged under water without breathing and the potential dangers of such prolonged submersion,” police wrote.

“Had Subbiah acted when she first observed the decedent submerged for an unreasonable period of time — by immediately entering the approximately five-foot-deep water and removing him rather than directing two seven-year-old children to do so — the decedent would have been removed from the water substantially earlier,” the affidavit said. “Instead, critical minutes passed while the decedent remained submerged and deprived of oxygen.”

Subbiah’s defense attorney, Rajan Joshi, said Subbiah will fight the charges, according to WFTV.

“Accidents do happen every day. We don’t see criminal liability in this case,” Joshi said.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.