A police officer has been hailed a hero after?she jumped into a pond?to rescue a drowning infant despite not knowing how to swim.
The incident took place on June 9 in Jacksonville, Florida, US, but the body cam footage was released on Tuesday, November 22.?
That day, an infant somehow wandered into a retention pond at an apartment complex. Officer Me¡¯Atia Sanderson, from the Jacksonville Sheriff¡¯s Office (JSO), was the first to arrive at the scene. She was alerted that the infant?was still in the water.? ? ??
"Sanderson, who does not know how to swim herself, without a second¡¯s hesitation, entered the pond to retrieve the child and performed CPR until she was relieved by other responding officers," the sheriff¡¯s office said.
The heart-stopping footage shows the moment that Sanderson pulled into the parking lot and began running to the scene.
"Where's the baby?" she frantically asks the people on the beach.? ?
"In the pond. He's somewhere under there!" a woman near the pond screamed."
Sanderson spotted the infant in the water and bravely went in to rescue him. "I'm getting him, I'm getting him," Sanderson told another woman who also jumped in the water to help.? ?
In the video, Sanderson's body camera is submerged for at least 30 seconds before she is seen making her way back to land. She then performed CPR on the child until she was relieved by other responding officers.??
Officials with the sheriff¡¯s office said Sanderson had been recognised for the impact that her ¡°quick and decisive decision to go into the retention pond¡± made.?
Though the incident happened during the summer, JSO recently shared the video on Facebook as part of its Week of Thanks.
"As we continue our?#weekofthanks, we at the?#JSO?are thankful that we have officers like Ofc. Sanderson, who day in and day out, take on the challenges and dangers of this job. Our community would not be what it is without them," the post stated.?
What an incredible act of bravery!?
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