Virginia

Virginia Mother Who Lost Toddler Pushes for Changes to Prevent Drownings

A mother in Loudoun County, Virginia, wants to spare other families from the pain she went through after her toddler son drowned.

During an April storm, Sarita Kothapally rushed outside to pick up trash cans that had blown over. Unbeknownst to her, Shubakhar, her toddler, had followed her outside and drowned in a retention pond in their neighborhood.

“Within 5 minutes we lost like everything,” Kothapally said.

Now, she’s pushing for change. She emailed the community association, asking them to build a fence around the pond. Kothapally said the association told her they would think about it.

“I want everyone to have some fence so that no other mother goes through this,” she said.

Kothapally hopes to build fences not just in her own neighborhood, but county-wide.

News4 is waiting for a response from the community association's attorney about whether  to build a fence.

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