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Pool Light Suspected Of Severely Shocking Girl, 15

GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA.com) — Authorities say a 15-year-old girl is expected to make a full recovery after being shocked by electricity while swimming in her family's pool.

Garden Grove police and firefighters were dispatched to the 11400 block of Ranier Court Saturday at about noon for a "possible electrocution." When officers arrived, they found Bianca Cruz, who had already been pulled from the pool by her father, lying face up on the pool deck, pale, unresponsive, without a pulse and not breathing, according to Garden Grove police spokesman Lt. Jeff Nightengale.

Bianca's mother, Bertha, says the doctors told her her daughter had been pronounced dead.

"I just couldn't believe that they told me that she had died, and just praying and praying, and a block before hitting the hospital, she threw a big scream," Bertha Cruz said. "Like a baby just being born. A scream that you can only hear, a mother can hear."

Family members told police nothing had happened the first time Bianca dove into the deep end. The second time, officials say she was electrocuted, possibly by the pool light that the Cruzes say had been disconnected.

Bianca's 23-year-old sister, Tiffany, was in the shallow end and heard her sister scream. Seeing her sister face down, she tried to get closer.

"It just kind of paralyzed me, almost, kind of like a pulsing feeling, a lot of pressure. It kind of felt like I was shriveling," Tiffany Cruz said.

She yelled for her father, Julio Cruz, who ran and pulled her from the pool. In spite of feeling the shock from the water, he pulled Bianca out. Bianca's father and Tiffany Cruz's boyfriend all tried to revive the girl before officers arrived.

Officers performed CPR on the girl until paramedics arrived. Bianca was taken to UCI Medical Center, where she was stabilized and remains under observation.

Doctors believe she will make a full recovery, police said.

Julio Cruz says someone looked at the pool light three weeks ago, even draining the pool. He says they will now hire someone else to figure out what went wrong with the pool light.

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