Doctor Let 7-Year-Old Drown in Pool: Cops

Police say a doctor, a cancer specialist. trained to save lives, stood at the edge. of a Florida pool and watched a. seven-year-old boy drown. You know what. the worst part is? Police claim she. didn't even jump in to try to save him. They alleged that this entire ordeal. lasting more than 5 minutes was captured. on surveillance video. We're gonna break. down that chilling timeline, the tragic. outcome of this case, and we're going to. do it all with forensic death. investigator Joseph Scott Morgan.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Have you ever been in a pool and you. watched a kid go under, even just for a. second, just long enough that you have. that moment where your stomach drops? You know the feeling. and you get that. feeling where you start moving toward. the water before you can really even. process what's happening. It's like. instinct. If you've ever been at the. pool with your own child, maybe even in. the presence of other children, you know. what I'm talking about. Now, imagine.

that feeling and imagine not doing. anything, not moving, doing absolutely. nothing, just watching it happen. I say. all that because prosecutors in Florida. claim that is exactly what happened here. in this case. a seven-year-old boy at. the bottom of a community pool. A. medical doctor standing at the edge for. five whole minutes. They claim she. didn't jump in, didn't call for help. Instead, police say she told two other.

children in her care, both of whom were. also just seven years old, to go check. on him and tell him to come up for air. That's the disturbing set of. allegations. And by the time another. bystander was told that the boy was in. trouble and he was pulled from the. water, police say he's been submerged. for more than seven minutes. And in an. absolutely tragic ending, he never wakes. up. We are talking about Dr. Sucant. Subaya or Suki. She's 48 years old. Medical websites list her as a.

boardcertified hematologist and. oncologist in Louisiana area. She has. spent her career treating cancer. patients. Patient reviews describe her. as wonderful, supportive, say she even. takes time to draw pictures for families. to help them understand complex. diagnosis. Her attorney claims she has. dedicated her life to saving people's. lives. And now she's charged with. aggravated manslaughter of a child in an. unbelievable tragedy. This is pertaining.

to the death of seven-year-old Kushil. Bandandy. And apologies if I'm. mispronouncing here, but Kashil was. living in the Everbe community out in. Orlando, Florida. Was living there with. his twin sister and his parents. And on. April 10th, 2026, his mother trusted. Sabaya to take him to the pool only for. him to never come home. So, here's what. we seem to know. According to police, Sabaya was in Orlando visiting her. mother, who lived in the same complex as. the Bandies. Her own seven-year-old son.

had become friends with Kashil and his. twin sister. And on the day of this. drowning, Kashil's mother gave Sabaya. permission to take the kids to the. community pool for a playd date. So. Sabaya, her mother, and Sabaya's child. walked over, picked up the twins. They. all headed to the clubhouse pool. According to the arrest affidavit, Sabaya told detectives that she assumed. Kashil could swim because he was not. wearing a life vest. She said the kids. jumped in at around 6:20 p.m. She.

claimed she saw him underwater for about. 45 seconds or so. asked the other two. kids to go retrieve him. When they. couldn't, she asked a nearby adult for. help, started CPR, called 911. That's. her version. But police claim that the. surveillance video tells a very. different story, and I'm just going to. tell you right now, according to the. police, this is brutal. The affidavit. lays out a very detailed timeline here. So, I'm going to walk you through this. It reads, quote, 6:205 seconds p.m. The.

deedent is swimming towards the center. of the pool and abruptly turns in the. opposite direction. The deedent is now. observed turning in circles and. splashing vigorously. Drowning begins. Police say Kashil Bandandy started to. drown, splashing, struggling not long. after he got in the water. And where is. the defendant? Where is Subaya? According to police, quote, Sabai is. observed walking towards the side of the. pool, placing a finger over her mouth in. a shushing motion. They do not appear to.

notice the deedant still splashing. vigorously in the center of the pool. It. is overheard in the audio surveillance. what sounds like Sabaya's son say, "Mom, I need my goggles." And both Sabaya and. her mother walked toward a blue bag that. they earlier placed on the table. Sabaya's mother took an item out of the. bag and handed it to Sabaya. Zabaya. placed what appeared to be goggles over. her son's head. And as that happens, police claim that this little boy, Kosil, is literally drowning nearby. But.

there's even more that allegedly. occurred. I go back to this quote. 6:2054 p.m. Sabaya and her mother look. towards the direction of the deedant. while both standing on the side of the. pool. 6:218 p.m. Surveillance shows. Sabaya putting goggles onto her son, at. which time he says, "You put it on. backwards and then Sabai is observed. adjusting his goggles." 6:21-26 p.m. Sabaya and her mother get approached by.

an unknown male and engage in a brief. conversation. While talking to the male, the deedant appears submerged underneath. the water. notably from 6:205 p.m. until. 6:2126 p.m. the deedent is actively. drowning. That's the allegation. So that. is what 1 minute and 11 seconds where. police claim this child is drowning and. he's not coming back up. This next. portion of what police say they saw in. this video, it is.

it is absolutely chilling. Even though. these are allegations, I just have to be. clear about that. Eventually, Kashil's. companions noticed that he's drowning, and police say it wasn't even Sabaya who. saw it. It was her 7-year-old son. Quote, 6:2255 p.m. Sabaya walked towards. the sunshelf entrance of the pool. She. is seen standing and staring at the. center of the pool. 6:2351 p.m. Sabaya. is still observed standing outside the. pool and pointing towards the deedant's. location. Her son is seen running.

towards Sabaya, saying, "What happened. to him?" Her son runs towards the center. of the pool and gets in at the ladder. A. child's voice is heard yelling, "Cashil.". 6:26. p.m. Sabaya goes into the pool and stops. at knee height level. Now, notably, the. deedant has apparently been submerged. underneath the water since 6:216 p.m. So. again, allegedly, 5 minutes and 21. seconds. 6:27 p.m. Sabaya approaches a.

nearby patron requesting assistance. 6:28-28 p.m. The patron goes into the. water and pulls the deedent out of the. pool. The deedant's twin sister and. Sabaya's child began yelling and. screaming, saying what sounds like, "He's gone to bed." So, the allegation. is the deedant submerged in the water at. 6:21-26 p.m. and has not recovered from. the water until 6:28 28 p.m. 7 minutes 2. seconds. So, so more than 5 minutes went. by according to police before Sabaya.

even entered the pool. And even then, she only ever went in to her niece. Police end up talking with her son, and. what he says his mother asked him to do. is just wild. Quote, "Her son reported. he was riding his scooters with his. friends to the pool. They all arrived at. the pool and shortly after about five. strokes, his mom asked him to go get the. deedent and tell him to come up." Her. son told Sabaya, "I can't swim that. deep." And the deedant's twin sister. said, "He's sinking." Now, eventually,

after allegedly asking her own. seven-year-old to try and get this. child, okay, this is again the. allegation I mentioned before, she grabs. a bystander. That bystander apparently. jumps into the water to pull Cashil out. He reported to police he saw him foam, vomit, blood pouring from the boy's nose. and mouth. So, he started CPR, yelled. for someone to call the cops. And this. is important. The bystander claims that. he asked Sobaya how long the boy had. been underwater. She told him.

approximately two minutes and then. according to the affidavit she. apparently changed her answer saying. allegedly I think it was longer. I saw. him under there longer. Now from a legal. point of view you could say someone. right trying to cover their tracks. They. knew what they did was wrong. The other. way of looking at it is it's an. incredibly traumatic situation. Perhaps. somebody's recall and panic is affecting. their answers. Okay. So that may be an. explanation maybe why she would say two. minutes when police claimed the video.

shows seven. was rushed to a children's hospital. critical condition by April 13th 3 days. later doctors told detectives he had no. brain activity there was swelling in his. brain he was having seizures and on. April 17th at 4:53 a.m. He was taken off. life support and he was pronounced dead. Okay, real quick. For anybody who owns a. business, runs a business, manages a. business, you don't need me to tell you. that running a business is tough enough. But why make things harder doing things. manually or relying on dozens of apps.

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Okay. Now, there was an autopsy that was. performed and when that becomes the. case, you know who I'm bringing in. I. want to bring in right now forensic. death investigator from Jacksonville. State University, the host of the Body. Bags podcast, which if you're not. listening to, you really do, Joseph. Scott Morgan. Thank you so much for. taking the time, sir. Uh really. appreciate it as always. >> Of course, Jesse. Glad to join you, man. >> So, let's talk about this. The ME ruled. this little boy's death, cause of death.

as complications of drowning. The manner. of death, the classification was. accidental. But the prosecution here, they have charged her Sabbay with. aggravated manslaughter. How do we. square that away? >> Okay, so we have to think about this. from the pers you've got two. perspectives. You've got the law and. they're relying upon, you know, the. cannon of criminal law. And then within. the medical legal community, there's. multiple ways to classify death and.

that's what we refer to as manner. So. natural, accidental, homicide, suicide, undetermined. They in the medical legal world are not. going to lean in to this idea of. homicide. in a drowning like this. They're going. to list more toward accidental. And here. is why. because the police have not presented. them probably with enough evidence to. demonstrate like specific intent like. she she would use the pool or weaponize.

the pool to bring about the end of this. child's life. Okay. And so that's that's. where we part ways with law enforcement. uh when viewed through the lens of the. medical legal world. Same thing can be. said right with traffic accidents. We. classify motor vehicle fatalities all. the time as accident, but you know, our. friends in law enforcement or the DA, the prosecutor will look at is like. vehicular homicide, you know, all kinds.

of things like that. So, they have this. huge can of law to choose from. So, this. is kind of a regular occurrence, but yet. what you really want from the medical. examiner is the that kind of granular. finding. I think if you're a prosecutor, you know, demonstrate to me what the. causal effects of this child's death are. and then we'll move forward with it. >> And when we talk manslaughter, right, it's not like murder, right? There's you. talk about intent, it's it's usually, generally speaking, it's kind of that. reckless standard. And I want to Yeah.

>> Yeah. Yeah. You're right. >> No, no. Sorry. Sorry, Joseph. Take. >> No, no, no, no. I was going to say it's, you know, taking your eye off the ball. or in this case off of a child that's. under your care at this point in time. And Jesse, I got to tell you, there's. there's another layer to this. You know, when you you begin to think about the. background of the individual who took. their eye off the child and then. returned allegedly returned their eye to. the child as the child is struggling for. their very life. Um.

that's it's hard to explain away given. this individual's background, academic. background, and training background. Can. you explain Can you expand upon that for. for No, you looked a little bit into. her. >> Well, yeah, I did. And so. she is actually a u she works at um at. MD Anderson uh at Ashner Hospital, the. main MD Anderson campuses in Houston, famous uh famous cancer research place.

I've actually had members of my family. that have gone to MD Anderson and it. saved their life. Okay. Uh highly. thought of, highly esteemed. Well, they. have a campus in New Orleans at Ashner. Hospital, which is a huge medical center. there. And she works in on encology. working with stem cell uh stem cell uh. treatments. And so uh taking taking. those simply put to take the stem cells. and set them up so that they will. actually replace or attack those cancer.

cells and the eradication of cancer in. someone's body. And so this is high-end. work that she does. It's very labor. intensive. This is uh the training she. would have gone through for this. particular um vocation within medicine. uh is something that's very very intense. both in the laboratory and in the. clinical space because you're you're. taking things from the laboratory and. turning them into a therapeutic model.

with you know treating these patients. that are actively presenting with. cancers and all that sort of stuff. But at a baseline, just in medical. school, you know, you understand the. effects of taking on water into your. lungs, you understand cause and effect. Um, it's a real basic uh a basic thing. for a physician, a well-trained. physician uh to grab hold of and. understand. and the fact that if if we. are to believe what we're hearing, she.

watched as this child allegedly was. struggling and fighting uh for their. very life and uh didn't end up so well. Child died. >> Yeah. And and by the way, how you frame. that, I imagine, is how the prosecution. would frame that in their opening. statement, their closing argument. This. is somebody training, the expertise to. know what the risk would be. and um as. somebody who's highly educated, highly. intelligent. Now, I want to go into this. uh because the affidavit lists specific.

medical findings and I need your help to. try to understand this and also uh. correct me if I you know if I. mispronounce this, but. >> the autopsy apparently found uh global. hypoxic eskeemic injury. Um I don't know. if I'm okay. cerebral edema with. cerebellar tonsular herniation, pulmonary edema, uh bilateral plural. eusions, left a pickle pumothorax, brain. death pronounced on April 17th. Can you.

just break down what we're talking about. here? What this child went through? >> Yeah. So with the global uh hypoxic. eskeemia, uh that means that there is an. event involving oxygen deprivation. In. other words, uh this child is not. receiving an uptake of of oxygen. And. that that's expected relative to um a. waterborne or drowning death where you. know there is actually replacement. You.

got liquid replacement uh going on uh in. that in that space where you're supposed. to be uptaking oxygen. Right? So, in. other words, the the organs, all of the. organs of the body, and I'll get to this. in just a second, are essentially being. deprived of oxygen. Um, you think about. the cerebral edema. And what that means. is that within. within the brain cell, uh, you've got. um, you've got congestion in here. Uh,

ademus changes or edema means swelling. Uh and what begins to happen is that the. brain uh the brain begins to kind of. expand and swell and as a result of that. you'll get this uh this tonsular uh uh. herniation which means that u you have a. herniated portion of the brain that is. protruding at this point because it is. so uh so ademous and so congested at. this point in time. Then you're going to.

go to pulmonary edema. Well, what does. pulmonary edema mean? Well, that means. that the lungs now uh are showing signs. of taking on a fluid. They're swelling. They get very, very heavy. At autopsy, this child's lungs would have far. exceeded the normal weights, okay, that. you would see in a child that had not. undergone this kind of trauma, the. trauma of drowning. Um, and then what's. kind of interesting is that you've got.

this uh this bilateral uh plural eusion, which means the plural space is the area. around the lungs, Jesse, that kind of. free floating area that's in there. Well, you've got fluid backing up into. those areas. And so, you've got this. internal thing that's going on with the. lungs that are making the lungs admitous. and swell and heavy and all that. Then. externally within that space, you've got. external pressure that is exerting. itself over the lungs externally. So. you've got an internal event and an.

external event within the body, if that. makes sense. And so that creates a uh a. a major a major problem when you're you. know you're considering this. Well, and. with the pneumothorax, I'm really wondering if that is not some. kind of fracturing. >> uh that occurred during attempts to do u. CPR perhaps because sometimes you'll get. that with with uh uh with compressions. and of course. >> ventilator dependence. We've heard a lot.

about that over the past half decade. You know, once you get onto a vent, it's. very difficult to get someone off. And. when they have a compromised airway like. this poor child did or their ability to. process oxygen, uh they become. ventilator dependent. And it's not just. the fact that their their lungs are. ventilator dependent. The brain is ventilator dependent. because you've got to get oxygen to the. brain for it to function. Even you know. at our primal brain you know when you.

think about the meillary area back here. the medulla bongata that area down there. that that that's where like the. autonomic nervous system is you know. where you know your heart is beating. you're not thinking about that right you. know you're breathing on your own so all. those basic things that your brain is. supposed to do those little electrical. impulses that are being blasted out. second by second. >> it's not functioning like it should of. course that leads to Yeah. >> Let me amplify this a little bit because. the affidavit mentions that Kashield was.

splashing around at one point. Says he. went under, stayed under, >> and that's why it's so important to. recognize the signs of drowning that's. not accompanied by someone yelling or. struggling. You know, lack of noise can. be pretty telling. >> Do you know from from this breakdown. how long it took for him to drown, how. long it takes, what he was going. through, what he was experiencing? It's. heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking, but. it's also, I think, important because. the minutes, the seconds, the time frame. is going to be important for a. prosecution and defense.

>> Yeah. And, you know, the thing about it. is is that people talk about how long it. takes to drown. And we've heard the old. the old sayings, if you ever, you know, I don't know if you recall this, but if. people were going to babysit, you know, and you've got a baby in the tub, you're. not supposed to leave the baby. unattended. A baby can drown in an inch. of water. >> Um, you know, you hear all that. It. doesn't take much. And if you've already. got a child that say is not proficient. at swimming, uh, and they're in the deep. deep area of the pool or maybe they. panic in the pool, they can kind of swim.

at like a rudimentary level. Um, they. become panicked. Well, you've got kind. of a double dose coming in at that point. because as you're struggling and that. adrenaline is pumping, you know, you're. beset by fear, right? So, you begin to. eat up a lot of oxygen at that point in. time. So when you go down and you you. submerge at that point in time, you. don't have the ability to uptake more. oxygen because now you're in a liquid. environment, then you struggle even more. because you're trying to your system's.

trying to fight against the uptake of. water. Um, so even if he had screamed or. attempted to scream or call out, well, we know what happens when you open your. mouth underwater. You're going to take. on more water. And so it becomes this. kind of u death spiral that the. individual goes into. And look, not. dancing around what you're what you're. asking here, but there is no definitive. absolute definitive amount of time. It. could probably happen within 30 seconds. Some people say that it could take up to.

three minutes. A lot of that is going to. be dependent upon the maturity, the. health of of an individual. And also, uh, you have to take into consideration. their their ability, uh, or lack thereof. to swim. >> It's just really, um, it's really hard. to process. It's just really hard to. think about. Um, so this defendant, Sabaya, uh, also told investigators that. the kids had been joking around about. how long they could each hold their. breath underwater, coming up with more.

and more ridiculous numbers. The. affidavit also says that she told. detectives she believed holding one. holding one's breath for two minutes was. unrealistic for a seven-year-old and she. agreed that based on her medical. training that duration would be extreme. What do you make of these alleged. statements? >> Well, considering that they're all over. the board, uh, and there are a couple. that are, it would it would as an. investigator when I begin to think about. this, I'm thinking that somebody is. deceiving me. uh because if the story is.

changing, the numbers are getting into. the absurd range and particularly. comparing what we said earlier about. basic clinical training, you have an. understanding what the parameters are. That's an interesting I think that. that's an interesting legal notion to. consider. You know, how much liability. does an individual have upon themsel. when they have training that is over and. above what say you and I might have. relative to application of CPR and all. those sorts of things. Well, you. understand if you're a physician, even a.

a baseline physician, you understand. form and function, how the brain uh and. the airway works, how the heart works, all this stuff. And you also know how to. apply CPR and when to do it. And also an. assessment, I think, um, of of an. individual when you see them physically. struggling. And that's going to be the. big question here, I think, moving. forward. Um, how long did she take her. eyes off this child? And also one thing. that kind of struck me by a couple of.

headlines I've seen with this and again. these are headlines. That doesn't. necessarily mean that they're, you know, from from the mouth of God to our ears, but when a couple of these things I've. seen is that she stood and observed or. stood and watched. First off, that's got. a horribly gruesome connotation to it, you know, when you think about this. Um, so if they have this on CCTV, which I. think they do, this is going to tell be.

the tale of the tape, right, relative to. how how long was this child subsurface? How long did the supervisor and adults. stand there and watch this happen? And. why were not concrete actions taken in. order to save this child? And why didn't. you go into the pool to pull this child. out? >> So, so a couple things there, right? like she would make the argument I she. did go into the pool right when she. thought something was going but she. didn't go she only went a certain a. certain level in not fully underwater. which is it's an important point number.

two I imagine her defense uh would say. and by the way speaking of her defense. her attorney Rajan Joshi told local. media accidents do happen every day we. don't see criminal liability in this. case now what I imagine they would say. is look she was she didn't know the. child was drowning they thought they. were horse playing right um she was. distracted by her own child. Uh there. was a lot going on. She didn't really. assess what was happening. Um you know, I mentioned this before, but perhaps uh. Cashil she thought could swim because he.

didn't have, you know, a flotation. device with him. So, so, so, so these. are the things that I imagine, and I. mentioned this to my audience, too. any. inconsistent statement she made. regarding what she did or how long he. was under the water. I wonder if her. defense attorney would say this is. somebody who is in the middle of panic. and shock and trauma. Their memories are. altered. What they say is not always. 100% reliable in that moment. I say all. that. You are more experienced than. anybody I know in terms of these.

investigations. What would you say to. those those kind of. >> what I would say is that that first. portion of that initial point of contact. when you're interviewing this individual. that's going to be your most valid data. and I would really lean into that you. know what did she say in the beginning. because after a period of time we see. this you know with people where you wait. a long time to interview them for. instance um that story begins to morph. in their brain and I've always been I've. always had a tendency to lean more.

toward that initial contact statement. and yeah I mean many times those those. have falsehoods that are contained. within that but if you're talking about. fresh recollections of somebody being. panicked that sort of thing brain has a. way of kind of covering that stuff off. the further you move down linear time uh. you know in linear time away from the. event I would go back to those initial. statements what did she say in that. first point of contact what did she say. to the EMTs all right what did she say.

to the responding officers in those. moments in the beginning and therein's. going to rest that kind of nugget of. truth I think and then you can begin as. an investigator to unpack that if you. want to compare it to later statements. then you can you know particularly with. the timeline and say you know at this. particular time you made this statement. but yet you've gone back here and you've. either uh changed the entire environment. you know where the child was what you. were doing at that point in time or. you've completely negated what you said. earlier so the tail of the tape I think.

in my opinion It's going to be those. earlier statements. Jess, >> and just to uh put a bow on this, her. attorney said um described this client, Sabaya, as a person who has dedicated. her life to saving people's lives, has a. good heart, never had any problems with. the law, said plans to fight the. charges. Again, that's kind of what I. imagine you would hear in a opening. statement talking about that too from. the defense. And according to the court. records, uh Sabay was booked into the. Orange County Jail on October 5th. So. this is nearly 6 months uh after. Kashield died. She has pleaded not.

guilty. Her next court date has not yet. been set, but this is one that I would. like to keep a careful eye on. I know. that you are too, Joseph. Thank you so. much for taking the time as always and. again I encourage everybody to check out. the Body Bags podcast with Joseph Scott. Morgan. It's really, really informative. >> Thank you, my friend. >> It's all we have for you right now here. on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much. for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. see you next time.