Usher had a horrifying experience on Monday when his 5-year old son, Usher Raymond V, nearly drowned in their swimming pool. Immediately afterward, the child’s mother, Tameka Foster, requested that a judge grant her temporary custody of the child due to her fear for his safety; she claims that Rena Oden, Usher’s aunt, is not a suitable caregiver. However, the judge has ruled in Usher’s favor, saying that it was a situation that couldn’t have been handled differently no matter who had been there that day.
“What happened here was an awful accident and… I’m not certain that had any single person been at the poolside that one person could have done any better than Ms. Oden. And Ms. Oden did impress me as a capable caregiver,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Goger said. “Based on the evidence I heard, not one person could have done any better than Ms. Oden.”
The family says that the child went underwater to retrieve a toy that had gotten stuck in the pool drain, but got his arm stuck in the process. When Oden and another family member were unsuccessful in pulling him free, they yelled for help and were able to get two contractors–who had been working inside the house–to save the boy. CPR was performed and they were able to revive him while waiting for the ambulance, but the boy still had to have a breathing tube inserted once he was in the hospital. Doctors say he is well on the road to recovery, though his father was worried that there would be brain damage involved.
Usher was granted custody of Usher Raymond V and 4-year old Naviyd during a heated court battle last year after Foster accused him of being an absentee father; she has since filed for a custody change, but because it hadn’t gone to court before the accident, she was forced to file for an emergency hearing.
Usher and Foster did suffer a loss last year when her son–Usher’s stepson–died in a watercraft accident on a Georgia lake.
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