Deputy Wes Brough of the Volusia County (Florida) Sheriff's Office rescues a child from a local pond.Volusia County SO
A Volusia County, Florida, Sheriff’s deputy located and rescued a missing child from a pond Tuesday evening in Deltona.
Deputy Wes Brough and other deputies responded to the report of a missing autistic child around 7:30 p.m.
The boy's father told deputies his 5-year-old autistic son escaped the house through a second-story door, which set off an alarm. The family immediately began looking, asked neighbors for help, and called 911.
Deputies searched the house but soon realized the boy was gone. Because the deputies had been trained in autism awareness and knew that autistic children are attracted to bodies of water, they began searching a pond a few blocks away.
“Around 7:48 p.m., Deputy Brough heard a voice and spotted the boy out in the water, hanging onto a log. Deputy Brough jumped into the pond and carried the boy to dry land, where he was medically cleared and returned to his family,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook statement.
All Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies receive autism awareness training.
