A truly torn North Carolina father called 911 after nearly succeeding in drowning his kids in a public pond.
For his lethal waffling, 29-year-old Alan Lassiter now faces three counts of attempted murder and is being jailed in lieu of over $2-million bond.
His traumatized children -- ages three, five and seven -- survived his efforts to take their lives only because the eldest escaped and ran for help. The two youngest remain hospitalized in critical and stable condition.
In recordings released today, a distraught-sounding Lassiter can be heard sometimes crying, sometimes swearing, as he informs an emergency dispatcher that he “just drowned [his] two daughters in the lake back there.”
“Please send an ambulance,” he begs. “My daughters are in the lake, drowning -- both of my young daughters.”
Then he proceeds to explain that he tried to kill all three children because he was fed up with social services: “All I was trying to do was get help,” Alan Lassiter sobbed. "Instead they turned their back on me -- the whole system -- and tried to take my kids.”
A spokesman for the Durham police said they "weren’t sure" yet if local welfare agencies had in fact been contacted by the father before, or if the family had ever required intervention by law enforcement.
