Heart-stopping bodycam video shows the moment a Florida sheriff’s deputy raced into a large pond to rescue a missing 5-year-old autistic boy after he escaped from his family’s home Tuesday night.
A Volusia County sheriff’s deputy was scanning a wooded area next to the body of water in the city of Deltona when he heard a young child cry out, the video shows.
“I got him, I got him,” Deputy Wes Brough said as he ran toward the small voice.
Brough is then seen on another deputy’s bodycam running into the knee-deep water where he scooped up the boy and tightly held him as he brought the child back to land.
“You OK? What’s your name?” the deputy asked the boy as he put him back on the ground.
“You wanna go see your parents?” Brough also said as he picked the boy up in the clip.
The boy’s father called police around 7:30 p.m. after the 5-year-old fled from the house through a second-story door, setting off an alarm, the sheriff’s office said.
The family and deputies searched the immediate area, but he didn’t turn up. Then authorities started looking for him near bodies of water after they were told the child, who is autistic, is attracted to the water.
The boy was found about 20 minutes after he vanished and was returned to 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 said.
