A rescue effort that occurred over the weekend and was caught on camera has placed three Painesville, Ohio, officers in the spotlight.
“I think this community and I couldn’t be more proud of our officers,” Police Chief Dan Waterman said of Sgt. Matthew Tycast, Officer Daniel Thompson, and Officer Chad Balausky, Fox 8 reported Monday.
“They responded quickly, they worked excellently, made excellent decisions under pressure and they didn’t hesitate for a moment to risk their own lives to save that child,” he continued.
According to Waterman, just before 8:00 a.m. Sunday, the policemen were called to a home on Erie Street where a four-year-old boy’s grandmother told them he had been missing for nearly 20 minutes.
They began receiving 911 calls from recreation park police who believed the child exited a family member’s house and went into the park through a gate that was closed.
“A couple of the callers feel that they are possibly seeing a body floating in the water,” Waterman recalled.
A neighbor showed the officers where he spotted the boy in the pond.
Two officers saw air bubbles and the silhouette of a person about 20 feet away from the bank.
“Officer Thompson was directed and he immediately went in. Full gear and all,” Waterman said.
Dashcam footage showed the moment the two officers entered the water and made their way over to the boy.
One of them took the child in his arms, then quickly moved back to the shore before laying him on the ground:
The child was not breathing, so both officers performed a mouth sweep and administered CPR, according to Waterman.
“There was debris in the child’s mouth and officer Thompson began chest compressions. After a number of chest compressions, they had a cough and things started to expel, water started to expel out of the child’s mouth,” he explained.
The Painesville Police Department said Wednesday the little boy, Paolo Moctezuma, made a full recovery and was released from the hospital on Tuesday.
“As a welcome home surprise, Sgt Matthew Tycast and Officer Daniel Thompson, two of the three officers that helped save Paolo’s life, visited with him at home with a gift basket full of toys and police memorabilia,” the post read.
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