It's believed the children left their room to go to the lobby to get the free continental breakfast. Hotel officials said they had seen the children other days come to the lobby to get breakfast.
According to Ogden, once the female child ended up in the pool, her brother tried to save her and he fell or was pulled into the pool.
Court records say that around 7 a.m., guests were awakened by shouting from the pool area and called the front desk. Lehman ran to the pool while 911 was called.
Lehman jumped into the pool and rescued them from the shallow end. The girl was floating face down with the throw rope from the pool life-preserver wrapped around her body. The boy was floating face-up in the pool making gurgling noises.
Four young women who were guests at the hotel helped Lehman get the girl out of the pool and assisted Lehman in administering CPR until emergency personnel arrived.
The children suffered medical problems afterward; one was in the hospital for about eight or nine days and the other about a month.
Ogden said one child is mildly to moderately retarded, and the other has a cognizant learning disorder.
About two years earlier, 16-year-old Christopher Elliott drowned at the LaQuinta. But LaQuinta argued Elliott's drowning had no similarity to the Sproles' children case. They said Elliott could swim and was in the pool during operating hours. They said he apparently had a seizure or some sort of asthma attack that caused him to drown.