OAKLAND PARK, FLA. (WSVN) - An Oakland Park family is mourning the death of a 5-year-old girl after she was pulled unresponsive from a lake in Oakland Park.
The family of Kallie Bligen shared their sorrow after learning she did not survive when she was pulled unresponsive from a lake by Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies near the 4100 block of Northwest 16th Avenue, just before 9 a.m., Friday.
“My Kallie, my Kallie B,” said Jasmine Kessler, her mother.
“I’m gonna be honest, half my world is gone, and I’m holding on for my other half right now,” said Lailah Stukes, her sister.
The family was overwhelmed with emotion as they spoke about Kallie.
“We worked so hard, we worked so hard to prevent this, to prevent this, and we really worked so hard, we tried everything, from locks, everything,” said Kayshawn Bligen, the child’s father.
Kayshawn said his 5-year-old daughter got up very early in the morning.
“We wake up in the middle of the night because my baby, she has a sleep condition, as well as autism, you understand, some sleep deficiency, so she stays up all night, playing on her iPad, roaming the house, and we had all these measures to prevent her from doing this,” said Bligen.
He said the little girl managed to get out of the house.
“I’m just sitting there with her feet in my back, and the next thing you know, I’m waking up, I hear her tablet faintly, but she’s not there, so I wake up my wife, ‘Baby, baby not in the back,'” said Bligen.
The whole family went around the neighborhood, asking neighbors if they had seen the 5-year-old.
“My wife is coming out the house saying, ‘She’s not in the house,’ and as I turn around, my baby is in the canal right there, in the lake. I immediately jump in that water, pull my baby to shore, started CPR, CPR from whatever I know, until the police got here,” said Bligen.
Deputies rushed the unresponsive child to a local hospital.
“We’re gonna be taking [Interstate] 95, please hold the Davie bridge,” a first responder is heard saying over Broadcastify.
Oakland Park Fire Rescue crews attempted lifesaving measures and transported the child to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
“They said my baby was alive, she died in the hospital, so why my wife couldn’t ride with her?” said Bligen.
Kallie’s family said they want to continue being advocates for autism awareness as they grieve this tragedy.
They said Kallie Bligen was a light in their life and had been progressing so much.
“She loved to sing, she loved to paint, she loved to dance, she was into herself. She loved expressing herself through music, through singing, through her sense of style,” said Stukes.
Detectives with BSO’s Homicide and Crime Scene Units are investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.
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