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Off-duty deputy plunges into pond at night, saves girls; dad charged with

He is charged with attempted murder.

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“I dropped some of my equipment and I immediately just ran into the water and grabbed both of them”, Earp said.

An off-duty sheriff’s deputy pulled the two girls, ages 3 and 5, from a pond in Durham on Sunday night, police said in a statement. “I was dealing with some sexual desires that I was trying to get some help with, but instead they turned their back on me, the whole system, and tried to take my kids, and they took the rest of the, of the little happiness that I had”.

‘It’s very stressful for responders, ‘ said Police Chief Jose Lopez.

The two girls were rescued by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. He’s being held on a $2.25 million bond.

Also in the call, Lassiter repeatedly says how he tried to seek help for issues he was battling, specifically sexual feelings he felt towards his daughters. Authorities said the 3-year-old is in critical condition and the 5-year-old is in stable condition.

The pond is about the length of a football field and slopes sharply toward the water from a nearby road. “I was dealing with some pedophilia things”.

Lopez said his understanding was the mother was at the hospital with the children.

Lassiter, who waited passively by the pond as police arrived, was charged with three counts of attempted murder: one count for each of the girls and a third for their 7-year-old brother.

“I heard something about children, that they might possibly be in trouble”, Earp said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

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“I need somebody to go and break the news to my wife; I need an ambulance out there. Because y’all didn’t help me”, he continued. Earp, 26, who has no children of his own, says the life-or-death episode continues to reverberate for him. The person who lived at the listed address for Lassiter in Raleigh said she did not know him and phone calls to family members were not returned.

Disturbing 911 call made after dad allegedly tried to DROWN his daughters