A Butler woman is facing criminal charges for failing to supervise a 4-year-old boy who drowned in July in the Connoquenessing Creek in Butler.

Danielle Vanlaningham, 24, who was babysitting the child and the boy's two older brothers, does not know how to swim, authorities said, and there were no life preservers for any of the children.

She was arraigned Wednesday on a felony charge of child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment. She is free on nonmonetary bail while awaiting her preliminary hearing Oct. 19.

Butler police filed the case following a review of their investigation by the Butler County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutor Terri Schultz, an assistant district attorney, led the review.

“Taking children to swim when you cannot swim and you do not provide any flotation devices or anything for them to swim because they can't swim,” Schultz told the Butler Eagle on Thursday, “I have a problem with that.”

Vanlaningham said in a phone interview Thursday with the Eagle that she is devastated by the boy's death. She also acknowledged that she has a profound fear of water.

But the decision to take the child and his two siblings to the creek, rather than a nearby park as was the original plan, she said, was approved by their mother.

“I had no idea what was going to go down,” said Vanlaningham, who has applied for a public defender to represent her in the case.

City officers along with the Butler Fire Department and Butler Ambulance Service were called around 7:20 p.m. July 13 to the area of Kaufman Drive for a report of a young boy who went under the water in Connoquenessing Creek.

The boy, Aiden Pritts, had been playing in a swimming hole at the creek with his two brothers, ages 5 and 11, when he apparently got swept under by the current. Vanlaningham was babysitting all three children.

Emergency crews said Aiden was out of the water but unresponsive when they arrived, and an unknown adult was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

He was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital and later flown by medical helicopter to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Police said they received word from the hospital July 17 that Aiden had died “due to drowning.”

Tragic plan change

During their investigation, police said they learned that Vanlaningham and the three boys initially planned to go to Father Marinaro Park near Kaufman Drive. The oldest brother, however, suggested going to the creek instead.

A phone call was eventually made to discuss the change of plans with the mother, Christina Sullivan. But Schultz said there are “conflicting stories” about the call, including if the defendant was part of that call between the 11-year-old and Sullivan.

Investigators said they believe Sullivan gave her consent, with the understanding that her children would stay in the shallow end of the water or on the rocks.

Sullivan on Friday confirmed that account to the Eagle.

“They were not to go to the (deeper) swimming hole,” she said.

Vanlaningham told police that she was uncomfortable with the change of plans, authorities said, because she is afraid of water.

“My understanding,” Schultz said, “was the sitter talked to the mother and expressed the concern that she couldn't swim and that she didn't want to take them to the creek.”

The 11-year-old called his mother, Vanlaningham said. She also denied talking to the mother about the change of plans after the oldest child suggested going swimming.

“I told him you can call your mom to ask,” she recounted, “but I have a bad gut feeling something terrible is going to happen and I think we should just go to the park.”

She said she eventually gave her phone to the boy to call his mother.

“He was 5 feet ahead of me,” Vanlaningham said. “I could not hear anything that was being said.”

Sullivan, however, disputed that account. She said the phone was on speaker mode because she could hear her son and the defendant.

“I stated that if she felt safe enough to take him to the swallow end to go ahead,” Sullivan said, “but the shallow end it was supposed to be, not the swimming hole.”

When the boy hung up the phone, Vanlaningham said, he told her, “My mom said we could go swimming as long as it was in the shallow end.”

The defendant insisted that she did not want to go to the creek.

“I've never been down there,” she said. “It was the first time. I had no idea what was going to go down. I was not aware of the area.”

Vanlaningham had another issue about the new plan.

“Their mother never had (the boys) go up to get their safety gear, their 'floaties' or anything,” she said.

Sullivan admitted that her oldest son asked about getting flotation devices.

“I informed him not to worry about it,” she said, “if they were going to the shallow end.”

She said that only the 11-year-old could swim, but Vanlaningham said she assumed all the boys knew how to swim.

However, even if the defendant had any trepidation about going to the creek, Schultz noted, Vanlaningham had the ultimate authority to nix the plan.

“The decision was upon her and she decided to act on that decision,” Schultz said of Vanlaningham.

When told of Schultz's opinion, Vanlaningham said, “I should have just taken them to the park, yes.”

She said she didn't stick with the original plan because she was afraid of what the oldest child would say about her to his mother.

Child swept under

About 10 minutes or so after Vanlaningham and the boys got to the creek, Sullivan said she got a “hysterical” phone call from her.

“I told (Sullivan) I had lost sight of Aiden and I can't find him,” the defendant recalled.

The current was strong that day, according to all accounts, and apparently swept Aiden under the water.

Sullivan lives on Zeigler Avenue, which is near Kaufman Drive. Aiden's father lives there “on and off,” she said.

She was home when she got Vanlaningham's frantic call. Sullivan, in turn, called the boy's father, who was at a nearby bank. The parents rushed to the scene, arriving separately.

Sullivan recalled that when she got there, she saw the defendant on the bank of the creek. She advised police that she noticed Vanlaningham's feet were dry.

She also was upset to find that her boys were in the swimming hole, not in the shallow end of the creek, per her instructions.

Both parents immediately jumped into the creek to search for their son. The boy's siblings were in the water when he went under, and they too had been looking for him.

Following the incident, charging documents said, the mother's oldest son advised her that “Vanlaningham never moved from the same spot on the creek bank and never attempted to rescue the (victim).”

On Thursday, Vanlaningham said her fear of water kept her from joining the rescue effort.

“I (am) extremely afraid of water,” she said, “to where I can't stand water being anywhere near my ankles.”

Sullivan, however, noted that just a week and a half prior to the incident, she and her sons, and Vanlaningham and her 1-year-old son, were all together at Moraine State Park, and the defendant was in Lake Arthur.

Many regrets

The child's father eventually found Aiden in 5 to 6 feet of water in the creek, and carried him out. The boy's mother told officers that even then, the defendant had not called 911, police said. The mother called 911.

Vanlaningham said she thought of calling 911 once she lost sight of Aiden in the water, “but my first instinct was to call the parents.”

Upon looking back, she added, “Do I regret not getting ahold of 911? Yes.”

Schultz said in reviewing the case file she concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone else.

“Although poor decisions were made by the mother,” she said, specifically citing Sullivan going along with the change of plans, “it doesn't necessarily equate to criminal activity.”

Sullivan, in hindsight, acknowledged she regretted that decision.

“If I would have known that it was actually going to happen and (the defendant) was going to take them to the swimming hole when I specifically said the shallow end,” Sullivan said, “I wouldn't have let her go.”

Vanlaningham, meanwhile, said that while she never intended for any harm to come to Aiden, “I've got to live with this for the rest of my life.”

For Sullivan, she is nagged by one question.

“If that would have been (Vanlaningham's) child, what would she have done?” Sullivan asked. “Would she have jumped in after him or would she have let him drown too?”