NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. – An off-duty Broward Sheriff's Office deputy jumped into a lake outside his home in North Lauderdale to rescue a toddler and her 72-year-old great grandmother.
Vincent Graham was relaxing at home Tuesday morning before heading to work when he heard what he believed to be one of his neighbors yelling for help. He went outside and saw a child's head emerge from the water.
Graham grabbed the child with one hand and passed her to his wife. He used the other hand to feel underwater for Jacqueline Agard.
Agard said her 2-year-old great granddaughter Miley was playing in the backyard of their home when the family's cat and dog caught her eye and she darted down the driveway.
"She started to look down the path, and all of a sudden she just took off and I ran after her," Agard said. "And then she ran across the street, and to my horror of all horrors, she jumped into the lake."
Agard, who gets around with a walker, said she doesn't know how to swim, but jumped into the lake to try to save her great granddaughter.
"I had no emotion, not even fear, and the only thing was just to get her out of that water," Agard said.
Agard said she struggled in the water, knowing that precious time was ticking by.
"She was floating and then she flipped over, and I was just trying to grab her to the best of my ability," Agard said.
Graham said he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Graham said he and his wife heard the screams and got to the lake just in time to pull them both out.
"She had fought a good fight," Graham said. "She was just tired, and you could tell (that) she was just to the point where she couldn't do it anymore, so I'm just glad we all were in place. The lord put us all in the right place to be there in that moment."
Miley and her great grandmother were taken to Northwest Medical Center in Margate.