A mother was indicted by a grand jury on an injury to a child charge more than a year after her toddler drowned at Camp Cohen Water Park in Northeast El Paso, court records show.
Jessica Weaver was indicted Dec. 12 on one count of injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury in connection with the May 13, 2023, death of her 3-year-old Anthony Leo Malave, El Paso County court records show.
Jessica Weaver faces a charge of injury to a child. She was booked into the El Paso County Jail on Sept. 22, 2023, and released that same day on a $100,000 surety bond.
She was originally arrested on an injury to a child charge on Sept. 22, 2023, but was released the same day on a $100,000 bond, jail records show. A case against her has been pending since.
More: Witnesses say mom ignored toddler who drowned at El Paso Camp Cohen Water Park
A court hearing on the indictment has not been set. Weaver’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
Weaver accused of not paying attention while son drowned
Anthony drowned about 5:09 p.m. May 13, 2023, at Camp Cohen Water Park at 9700 Gateway North Blvd, authorities said.
Anthony Leo Malave, 3, died on May 14, 2023, in a drowning at Camp Cohen Water Park in Northeast El Paso. He is seen visiting a Disney park in this photo included in a lawsuit against the city of El Paso filed by his mother, Jessica Weaver.
The boy was found unresponsive in a 4-foot-deep section of a pool. Anthony was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.
Weaver was allegedly “by herself on her phone, never looking up or paying attention to anything” at the time of the drowning, witnesses told police, an affidavit states.
The water park had signs stating that children ages 6 and younger “must be directly attended by a swimming adult” at all times and “must be supervised by an adult within arm’s reach.”
More: Mom of toddler who drowned at El Paso’s Camp Cohen Water Park arrested
The affidavit alleges Weaver was recklessly inattentive before the young boy drowned. A witness claimed it took Weaver “about 5 minutes” to run to the child after lifeguards had blown the whistle for everyone to get out of the pool.
Weaver denied wrongdoing through her attorneys at the Houston-based law firm Webster Vicknair MacLeod. The attorneys argued the city of El Paso is responsible for the death.
Weaver filed a lawsuit against the city of El Paso, alleging the city destroyed video of the day of the drowning and that the water park’s lifeguards “had zero clue how to perform medical life-saving measures after Anthony was pulled from the pool.”
The lawsuit remains pending in state district court.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mother indicted in drowning death of son at Camp Cohen Water Park