Bystander saved a little girl in a Florida Keys resort pool. Mom was partying, cops say

A bystander at a Florida Keys resort popular with weekend partiers and day-trippers saved an unattended little girl from drowning in the pool late Sunday afternoon, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies arriving at the hotel, Gilbert’s Resort in Key Largo, ended up arresting the 3-year-old girl’s mother after she was found intoxicated elsewhere on the property, according to the sheriff’s office.

Yavelin Fernandez, 28, who lives in Homestead, was still in county jail Monday afternoon with no bond information or information regarding her legal counsel immediately available.

According to deputies, resort security video footage showed the girl and a 5-year-old boy alone by the pool. A guest at the resort pulled the girl from the pool, who, according to deputies, was not wearing a flotation device and appeared on the video to be drowning, said Adam Linhardt, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

The guest and resort staff at first couldn’t find Fernandez. When she was found around 6 p.m., she appeared to have been intoxicated.

“Fernandez was belligerent and yelling at deputies,” Linhardt said.