Florida police shared bodycam footage of one of their deputies saving a 5-year-old boy with autism after he escaped from his home Tuesday.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office congratulated Deputy Wes Brough after he “found and rescued a missing 5-year-old child in a pond,” the tweet showed.
In the video, police officers converged around a pond in search of the boy and were eventually alerted by babbling.
“Coco?” Brough asked when he heard the noise. “Hey, he is out here somewhere.”
“I got him! I got him” the officer said as he sprinted toward the boy in the pond. The deputy removed his gear that contained his bodycam as he waded into the water. (RELATED: Heartwarming Video Shows Florida Cop Making Deal With Runaway Autistic Child)
Let’s hear it for Deputy Wes Brough, who found and rescued a missing 5-year-old child in a pond last night in @CityofDeltonaFL pic.twitter.com/GMdF6MK6rL
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) August 7, 2024
Another deputy’s bodycam footage captured the moment when Brough sprinted into the water.
Brough picked up the child and carried him back to land.
“You okay? What is your name?” Brough asked the child. The boy was sporting a shirt that had the words “Coco” written on it. Another deputy asked the boy if he wanted “to see” his “parents.”
Deputies were alerted to the boy’s disappearance by his father who said that his son “escaped the house through a second-story door, which set off an alarm,” the sheriff’s office tweeted.
Deputies responded to the call around 7:30pm Tuesday on Valmont Lane, Deltona. The boy’s father told deputies his 5-year-old son escaped the house through a second-story door, which set off an alarm. The family immediately began looking, asked neighbors for help, and called 911.
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) August 7, 2024
The police initially searched the body of the water and are around the pond because they knew “the 5-year-old had autism and was attracted to water.”
Deputies searched the house and the immediate area with no luck. But knowing that the 5-year-old had autism and was attracted to water, deputies began checking bodies of water near the neighborhood. Deputy Brough and others headed for a pond a few blocks away behind Toluca Court.
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) August 7, 2024
The boy was found and “returned to his family” after being “medically cleared.”
Around 7:48 p.m., Deputy Brough heard a voice and spotted the boy out in the water, hanging onto a log. Deputy Brough jumped into the pond and carried the boy to dry land, where he was medically cleared and returned to his family.
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) August 7, 2024
Water appeals to those with autism as it “offers a multisensory experience,” an escape outlet from sensory overload if one is submerged in water, and for other reasons, according to the Autism Society of Florida.
