BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. — A Bay Harbor Islands officer’s decision to stay after his shift helped save a 2-year-old girl from drowning.

Commander Thomas Rigo had finished work July 3 but stayed a little longer while patrolling the Intracoastal.

Then he heard a mother screaming from the shore.

Rigo looked over and saw Noah’s mother jumping into a pool after finding her daughter unresponsive.

“I look to my left. I see her jumping in the pool all dressed up, and she pulls this lifeless baby,” Rigo said.

Noah had drowned in the pool, and her mother desperately needed help.

Rigo ran over and put his CPR training to work. He is certified as a CPR instructor in Bay Harbor Islands.

“I didn’t even realize what was going on in the moment. It just all like happened so quickly, but after, you know, he saved her life and, and we got to know what happened, we were just even more shocked at finding out the details that he happened to be on a boat at the right time,” Noah’s mother, Tiffany, said.

Then came the moment Noah’s family knew she was going to be OK.

“All I heard was her say, Mama, and I like, I knew like she was going to be OK,” Tiffany said.

Rigo was later honored with a lifesaving award.

“You saved our little girl and honestly there’s no other way that we could thank you besides constantly saying thank you,” Tiffany said.

The family says Rigo told them they would be part of each other’s lives because he saved Noah’s life.

Noah’s brother also made the moment even more special, hugging his sister and telling her to thank the commander.

“He saved you,” he told her.

The family and Rigo say they will be tied together forever after the lifesaving rescue.

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