N.C. man to cops: I just tried to drown my kids

DURHAM, N.C. -- The anguish in the man's voice on the 911 call was clear.

He was telling the dispatcher on the other end of the line that he had just tried to drown his children in a pond after throwing them in. He was so distraught and disoriented that he couldn't describe where he was.

"Please send an ambulance. My daughters are in the lake, drowning. Both of my young daughters."

Alan Tysheen Eugene Lassiter sobbed as he struggled to explain where he was so police could come to help. Later in the call, he told a bystander, "I just drowned my two daughters in the lake back there."

Now, authorities are left looking for answers as to why Lassiter ended up Sunday night at an apartment complex where he didn't live trying to end his children's lives.

Lassiter, 29, was charged with three counts of attempted murder and jailed Monday on a bond of $2 million, according to the Durham County Jail. His 3- and 5-year-old daughters were rescued from the water by an off-duty sheriff's deputy and hospitalized. His 7-year-old son escaped form the pond and ran for help, police said.

On the 911 call, Lassiter alternates between expletive-laden rage and distraught sobs and blames officials for trying to take away his children as he dealt with a personal problem.

"All I was trying to do was get help," he said. "Instead they turned their back on me. The whole system, and tried to take my kids."

CBS Raleigh, N.C. affiliate WRAL-TV reports Lassiter also told the dispatcher, "Y'all take this and learn from me. When somebody asks for help, really help them, OK? Because y'all didn't help me. You blame CPS for this. They (are) trying to take people's kids over dumb (expletive), and this is what you get! All I wanted was help. ... They wasn't there for me. Nobody was there for me. ... Nobody helped me."

It is not known if Lassiter has a lawyer. 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.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said at a news conference Monday he did not know whether the family had been the subject of earlier calls for intervention by police or social service workers.

Olivia James, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said the agency doesn't discuss individual cases to protect people's privacy.

It also is not clear whether the girls were thrown or pushed into the pond before they were rescued by the deputy, who performed CPR until an ambulance arrived, Lopez said.

The pond is about the length of a football field. It is about 6 feet deep at its deepest point.

The 3-year-old girl was in critical condition and the 5-year-old girl in stable condition, police said. Their mother was with them at a local hospital Monday, police said.