https://www.facebook.com/HCSOSheriff/videos/649940213412866/
By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
TAMPA, Fla. — A 4-year-old nearly died when he waded through tall grass into a Florida pond and got entangled, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy, who has autism, was found after two deputies searching the water found him “being kept afloat by cattails,” officials said in a news release.
It happened around 10:30 a.m. July 11, in a rural community northeast of Tampa, and video shows the toddler was virtually invisible in the shoulder-high grass.
“A concerned citizen had called 911 regarding a young child seen running across the street and into a nearby pond,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Two deputies arrived at the scene and immediately began searching the water. After thoroughly looking through the thick shrubs at the edge of the pond they located the boy, who was being kept afloat by cattails, and pulled him to safety.”
The search was more challenging due to the boy being non-verbal.
However, he could be heard whimpering as one deputy got in the water for a better view of the bank, video shows. The deputy was nearly submerged when the boy was discovered and handed off to another deputy.
“I could barely hold him because my feet were sinking so deep,” a deputy can be heard saying in the video.
The identity of the child was not released. He was reunited with family after an examination determined he did not suffer life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister called the video “harrowing.”
“I shudder to think of the outcome if not for the tenacity and efforts of these deputies,” Chronister said in the release.
“We will now work with the Department of Children and Families to determine if negligence played a role in this young boy’s disappearance.”
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