ARANSAS COUNTY, Texas — A possible lawsuit is in the works over the death of a 2 year old girl at an RV park near Rockport.
Also, one of the residents of that park has pointed out what she believes is an example of the dangers the place posed to guests.
Rockport police body cam footage showed the start of an effort to dig 2-year-old Charleigh Nelson out of the septic tank system she fell into at the Paradise Lagoon RV Park at highway 188 and 35.
The Nelson family from Alabama was cooking out at an outdoor pit here as Charleigh was playing nearby.
"How did it happen?," A witness said. "That lid on the backside wasn't screwed down and that girl was jumping on it and when she jumped on it the lid flipped and she was gone."
The accident set off a call for lots of help.
"Go around and ask anybody if they have shovels, i don't know for what but?" you can hear an officer say through body cam footage
The hole Charleigh fell in was so narrow that no one could be lowered down.
It was also some 15 feet deep.
While some frantically dug away with shovels, more equipment was brought in as well.
But it didn't help either.
"Bystanders had attempted to lower themselves by a rope and we're unable to fit through the hole and reach the child," Gillian Cox with Rockport Volunteer Fire said. "Initial firefighters attempted similar rescues immediately there was a variety of firefighting equipment and were unable to reach the child. Attempts were made by civilian and city back hoes to dig the area out but that became unstable."
Eventually someone small enough was able to be lowered down and the girl's body retrieved.
The Nelson family is looking for answers and hired a law firm to get those questions answered.
One resident of the RV park pointed out to us that this lid to a septic system here was repaired the day after the child's death. It's the same kind of lid she was apparently playing on.
"They've got it covered now but it does have a crack in it and it looks like they tried to fill it with dirt and as you can see they're all around," RV Park resident Felicia Vogler said.
The Nelson family headed back to Alabama to bury Charlie and hope that something can be done to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
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