Drowned Children’s Father Sues

SANTA ANA —  The father of two drowned toddlers has sued the children’s mother and other relatives, contending that they failed to take precautions to prevent the two siblings from wandering into a back-yard pool alone.

In the suit filed Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court, Julian T. Rivera named the children’s mother, Amber Miller, a great-great aunt, Rhoda Joanne Gainey of Garden Grove, and her husband, Stanley Poliandro.

Three-year-old Donald Miller and 2-year-old Serena Miller were found lying on the bottom of a pool in Gainey’s home in April. Neither could swim.

Donald was pronounced dead at the hospital. Serena was declared brain-dead a day later.

The two toddlers, their 2-month-old brother and their mother had recently arrived from Denver and were staying with Gainey.

The two children apparently opened a sliding-glass door of the den where they had been sleeping with their mother and went into the pool only a few feet away.

According to the lawsuit, Poliandro noticed that the doorway to the pool was open that morning.

“He left the room for several minutes, without investigating,” the suit says. “And when he returned, (he) saw that the door was wide open and the children (were) drowning in the pool.”

The suit contends that Gainey and Poliandro were warned that “the children were active and inquisitive.” The children had expressed interest in going into the pool, the suit says.

Poliandro and Gainey were also notified that the children’s mother at times failed to control her children’s activities, the suit says.

The suit, filed by attorney Kenneth J. Richard of Anaheim, also said Gainey and Poliandro failed to “child-proof” their pool.

Such omission, along with Miller’s occasional failure to supervise her children, placed the two toddlers at risk, the suit says.

The suit did not elaborate on Rivera and Miller’s relationship, but said that he at one point had sought custody of the children.

Neither side could be reached for comment.