October 1, 2016 Barajas v. Walmart
According to witnesses, Federico progressed down the embankment on the west end of the detention pond, at which time he either jumped or fell into the water where the outlet culvert drain is located. Due to the force of the water collecting and emptying through the culvert, Federico was sucked into and swept through the culvert. When Federico did not surface, the children at the west end of the detention pond then ran to notify Federico’s family.
Author: Gerald M. Dworkin
Date: July 19, 2012
On July 5, 2009, 5 year old Federico Barajas, Jr., had been playing with friends in the yard of his trailer park home located immediately adjacent to the Walmart Supercenter, in Millington, Tennessee, on which is located near a detention basin site. At some point, Federico and other children with him left the yard and went to the detention pond located adjacent to the Walmart Supercenter. Federico entered the area by going around one end of the wooden fence that separated the Walmart site from the Westside Mobile Home trailer park. At this time, the pond was filled with water from a recent rainfall.
According to witnesses, Federico progressed down the embankment on the west end of the detention pond, at which time he either jumped or fell into the water where the outlet culvert drain is located. Due to the force of the water collecting and emptying through the culvert, Federico was sucked into and swept through the culvert. When Federico did not surface, the children at the west end of the detention pond then ran to notify Federico’s family.
Federico’s mother had discovered the children were missing from the yard, and had begun searching for them in the trailer park. She and Federico’s sister were approached by the excited youngsters, who reported Federico’s disappearance into the water.
Millington Police Officers, along with Millington and Shelby County Fire units were dispatched to the scene at 5:04 p.m., as was Rural-Metro Ambulance 34. Upon their arrival at 5:08 p.m., the pond and culvert were searched by police, fire, and EMS personnel, as well as by Barajas friends and family members.
At approximately 6:01 p.m., Federico’s father found Federico under a couch that was partially submerged in the ditch on the north side of the baseball field adjacent to the trailer park and downstream from the detention pond site. His location at the time he was found was approximately 450 feet west of the drain outlet.
Once Federico was removed from the water, Fire and EMS personnel assessed him to be unresponsive and in respiratory and cardiac arrest.
Fire and EMS personnel initiated CPR on scene and Rural-Metro 34, with at least one firefighter on board, transported Federico to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital while continuing Advanced Life Support measures. Rural-Metro 34 arrived at the hospital at approximately 6:18 p.m. and Federico was transferred to the care of waiting physicians and nurses. Advanced Cardiac life support measures were continued unsuccessfully at the hospital and Dr. James O’Donnell pronounced Federico deceased at 6:55 p.m.