By Bill Carey
Police1
MIAMI — Miami-Dade Police have released bodycam video of a rescue involving one of their officers and a toddler last month.
Officers responded to the report of a car with a 3-year-old boy inside, submerged in a canal, WSVN reported.
“So, the call went out, it was a child in danger, and that is what all cops fear,” said Sergeant Edward Webster in video from the department about the rescue. “It was hard to see the car because it was stuck under the bride.”
Webster radioed for additional help after seeing where the car was and the limited access to its location.
“As a father, when you hear a child’s underwater, in a vehicle, and their parent can’t get them out, the first emotion that clicks in your head is ‘go,’” said officer Emanuel Walton III.
Walton entered the water with other officers on the scene to rescue the child. “I couldn’t see through the water, so I had to come back up a couple of times,” Walton said. Using his sense of touch, he found the car seat and pulled it from its anchor.
Once out of the water, Walton handed the seat with the child over to other officers. Officers climbed up the embankment and then handed the child to officer Junior Clervil, who immediately began CPR.
The resuscitation efforts were successful and the toddler began breathing on his own. Both the toddler and another man in the car were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“Despite whatever else is going on in your life, you have to make that time, and that opportunity, to be able to assist,” said Walton.