A Florida deputy jumped into a large pond to rescue a 5-year-old autistic boy who had escaped from his family’s home on Tuesday night. The intense and emotional rescue was caught on another deputy’s body cam.
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A Volusia County sheriff’s deputy was surveying a wooded area adjacent to a body of water in Deltona. He then heard the cry of a young child, as shown in the video.
“I got him, I got him,” Deputy Wes Brough can be heard saying in the footage. The deputy springs into action, wading into the water.
Brough is captured on another deputy’s bodycam as he plunges into the knee-deep water. He swiftly scooped up the boy and held him tightly while bringing him back to shore.
The deputy placed the 5-year-old he rescued on the ground, asking: “You OK? What’s your name?”
“You wanna go see your parents?” Brough can be heard saying as he picked the boy back up in the footage.
‘It Was My Own Kid Holding on to Me,” The Deputy Later Said of Rescuing the 5-Year-Old Boy
According to the sheriff’s office, the boy’s father contacted the police around 7:30 p.m. He told authorities that his 5-year-old son escaped from the house through a second-story door, triggering an alarm.
The family and deputies conducted a search of the surrounding area, but he was not found. Authorities then focused their efforts near bodies of water after learning that the child, who is autistic, has a fascination with water.
The boy was located approximately 20 minutes after he went missing and was safely reunited with his family.
“It was confirmed the family had taken several measures to secure the house, including the alarm on the door that immediately alerted them the boy had gone missing,” the sheriff’s office explained in a press release.Â
“I thanked God a lot for putting me in that position one, and two for allowing that kid to be above water and breathing fine when we got there,” Deputy Brough told the Associated Press. “That’s all glory to God for putting me in the right place at the right time.”
Brough credited the training they received, particularly the Autism Awareness Training, for equipping him to handle any situation effectively.
“I have three children of my own, one being a 5-year-old,” Brough added. “So to have him hold on to me tightly like that, it felt like it was my own kid holding on to me.”