DARLINGTON — A mother who pulled her toddler son out of a pool in rural Darlington after he nearly drowned last summer is charged with child neglect for the incident.

Tricia Elaine Wakenight, 32, Shullsburg, faces a charge in Lafayette County Circuit Court of neglecting a child causing great bodily harm. The Class F felony carries a maximum prison sentence of 12 and a half years.

She signed a $2,000 signature bond in the case Jan. 6 and is back in court Feb. 3 for an adjourned initial appearance. She has no prior criminal record in Wisconsin.

According to the criminal complaint, filed Dec. 13:

Wakenight and her children were staying with a friend on Mineral Road southwest of Darlington while Wakenight was going through a separation from an abusive partner.

On Aug. 15, they had been staying at the residence about a week. Wakenight and her 14-year-old daughter were in a bedroom folding laundry while the other children, including her friend’s teenage children, were outside. Wakenight later told police she thought the teenagers were keeping an eye on her younger children. 

“Tricia stated when you live in the country, everyone looks after each other,” a Lafayette County detective, Matthew Edge, wrote in his report filed with the criminal complaint.

Wakenight’s daughter told police her mother was in and out of the bedroom also doing other chores, like cooking dinner.

Her 2-year-old then came into the house and said the youngest child, then about 20 months old and able to walk, was “in water.” Wakenight said she didn’t know what the 2-year-old meant by “water” because there were puddles outside in addition to a pool. She went outside to check. She asked her friend if he’d seen the boy. He said no. She started to cry and speak louder as she looked around for the toddler.

She described finding the boy submerged in the pool, with his shorts floating on the surface.

The pool was half-full with about two feet of “dirty, murky” water, the detective observed. He was told it was about to be drained and put away for the season. Near the pool was a burn pile with “ash and broken glass throughout.” A small trampoline had been pulled next to the pool for the dogs to use to jump into the water.

Wakenight said she climbed onto the trampoline and then got in the pool, grabbed her son and climbed back onto the trampoline. While attempting to get off of the trampoline with him, she fell to the ground while holding him. She then put him on the ground so he was facing up.

After screaming for someone to call 911, she tried to give the boy CPR. She described him as “limp” and “purple” and said she thought he was dead. Several witnesses reported seeing him spit up water and blood.

A deputy arrived before the ambulance and watched her perform CPR. Wakenight later told the detective she was upset the deputy did not help her.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County and later airlifted to a Madison hospital.

Wakenight said she did not know how he was able to get into the pool. Her 5-year-old told the detective he was playing with the 2-year-old and the 1-year-old on and around the trampoline when the 1-year-old fell into the pool.

The detective tried to interview the 2-year-old, the only apparent witness to the fall, but he “just stared at me while he frowned,” the detective wrote. Wakenight said the boy doesn’t speak to people he doesn’t know.

The criminal complaint provides no information on what injuries the 1-year-old suffered, or if his near-drowning caused him permanent damage or injury.