MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Newly-released police body worn camera shows the desperate scene of an officer jumping into a South Florida canal to save a boy trapped in a submerged car.
Orlando Borrón says it was his 3-year-old’s birthday and they had just left his son’s daycare when he lost control of his car near Southwest 127th Avenue and 232nd Street.
Borrón said he could not get his son out of the car seat, and good Samaritans who tried to help called police.
The vehicle was sinking deeper as Miami-Dade police officers from the South District arrived.
By then, the little boy had been under water for several minutes.
Officer Emanuel Walton III jumped in.
“I couldn’t see through the water, basically use touch,” Walton said. “Eventually, I felt the baby seat, the car seat, the child was able to pop up to the top of the car.”
The small boy was pulled out of the water, but he was unresponsive.
Officer Junior Clervil then began performing CPR.
“When the baby started crying, I started crying too because it was the best cry I ever heard in my life,” said Clervil.
The child was taken to the hospital but is now doing well, and his father says he owes his and his son’s life to the Miami-Dade officers who responded.