Camp Cohen Water Park in El Paso, Tex. Inset top: Anthony Malave, 3. Inset bottom: Jessica Weaver. (Images of Camp Cohen and Anthony via Jessica Weaver lawsuit; image of Weaver via El Paso Police Department.)
The woman who filed a lawsuit after her son died at a water park has been arrested and charged by local law enforcement in what the woman’s lawyer has described as nothing more than “vindictive retaliation.”
Anthony Malave, 3, drowned while attending what is described as a “soft opening” of the Camp Cohen Water Park in El Paso, Texas, on May 13, 2023. Anthony’s mother, Jessica Weaver, sued the city of El Paso and the company running the water park around a month later, claiming that the lifeguards were undertrained and prioritized safety over entertainment, leading to Anthony’s death.
“Rather than ensuring that guests – like 3-year-old A.M. – were safe, Defendants were too concerned with packing the water park with people and ensuring that the live band was playing,” the lawsuit says, alleging that even before the park opened, “safety was not a priority.”
“For example, a news article was posted in the El Paso Times in February 2022 seeking lifeguards for the four new water parks soon to open in El Paso, including Camp Cohen,” the lawsuit says. “The article literally states that a lifeguard need only be 16 years or older with ‘no experience required.’ An Indeed job posting made by Defendant ASM Global likewise states that a lifeguard need only be 16 years or older to apply. Defendants’ lack of concern for the safety of their water park guests, especially young children, was already abundantly clear long before Camp Cohen Water Park even opened.”
Two months after Weaver filed her complaint — and almost 4 months after Anthony’s death — Weaver, 35, was under arrest.
“On 08-29-2023, Weaver was taken into custody by the United States Marshals in Indiana,” a press release from El Paso police said Tuesday. “She is awaiting extradition back to El Paso, facing charges of Injury to a Child by Omission with a bond of $100,000[.]”
According to a press release from her lawyer Ryan MacLeod, Weaver was arrested while in her home state of Indiana, where she had held a funeral for her child. She had previously been advised that she may face criminal charges, but hadn’t heard anything from law enforcement and had no idea she was about to be arrested.
“After the lawsuit was filed, Ms. Weaver’s counsel was informed by counsel for the City of El Paso that the El Paso District Attorney’s Office might pursue criminal charges against Ms. Weaver for the death of her only child,” the press release says. “Ms. Weaver’s counsel nor Ms. Weaver heard anything more about potential criminal charges until almost two months later on August 29, when over a dozen law enforcement officers stormed into an Indiana home yelling at Ms. Weaver and claiming she was a ‘fugitive from justice.'”
“Notably, no charges had been publicly announced, no one had informed Ms. Weaver or her counsel, and certainly no indictment had been obtained by the El Paso District Attorney’s Office,” the press release continued. “Ms. Weaver was taken into custody and transported to a jail in Indiana, where she was given the opportunity to fight or waive extradition to El Paso. Ms. Weaver immediately and unequivocally waived extradition.”
It was not immediately clear whether Weaver had been transported to Texas or was still in her home state of Indiana.
MacLeod says his client’s arrest is nothing more than misdirection to deflect from the real culprit: the water park and its employees.
“If the City and the DA had any interest whatsoever in seeking justice for Anthony and holding the responsible parties accountable, the DA would be pursuing charges against the 17 lifeguards and the water park officials who were ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety of the water park guests,” MacLeod’s statement said. “That has not happened and will never happen – it’s bad for business.”
Weaver’s lawyer says the charges and the El Paso district attorney’s press conference announcing them are “clearly an act of vindictive retaliation against Ms. Weaver and another example of the City refusing to accept responsibility for Anthony’s death.”
The press release notes that El Paso “demonstrated its lack of care regarding Anthony’s death when it ignored its deadline to answer the lawsuit for an entire week before finally filing an answer.”
Representatives for the El Paso police, Weaver, and the water park did not immediately reply to Law&Crime’s request for comment.
Read the complaint, via local Fox affiliate KFOX, below.
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