TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida deputy is being hailed a hero after he rushed into a large pond to save a 5-year-old boy with autism after he wandered away from his home Tuesday night.
The boy’s father told the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office his son escaped from their Deltona home around 7:30 p.m. through a second-story door, which set off an alarm. The family immediately began looking, asked neighbors for help, and called 911.
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Deputies began searching the home with no luck. However, knowing that the boy had autism and was attracted to water, deputies began checking bodies of water near the Valmont Lane neighborhood.
During the search, Deputy Wes Brough and others headed for a large pond a few blocks away behind Toluca Court. Then, around 7:48 p.m., Brough heard a voice and spotted the 5-year-old out in the water, hanging onto a log.
Body camera footage shows Brough immediately jump into the pond and carry the boy to dry land, where he was medically cleared and returned to his family.