NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A toddler was pulled from a pond in North Lauderdale on Wednesday thanks to a hero who rushed in to help revive the child.
The family of the 2-year-old boy is just devastated by all off this. Investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office were at the scene for hours to find out how the child ended up in a pond.
Fortunately, it was neighbors in the community who rushed to help and pull that boy from the water.
Deputies blocked off nearby streets after learning the toddler wandered away from his North Lauderdale home off Southwest 73rd Avenue and 12th Street.
Authorities said it happened just before 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Faustin Luvernier, the boy’s uncle, was devastated after learning his nephew was found face down in a pond across the street.
“I feel hurt,” he said. “I am a father too.”
Neighbor Terryann Buchanan said her father was with the child, when he thought the boy went back inside of his home.
That’s when he said relatives came out looking for him.
“He went over to the lake and saw a slipper and saw him in the lake,” Buchanan said. “He pulled him out and started doing CPR.”
As this was happening, more neighbors and bystanders rushed in to help.
David Bain was walking down the street when he said he heard the screams from family members.
“That’s when I saw the little kid. He was laying out in the grass just lifeless,” said Bain.
He also began performing CPR on the child, a technique he learned in high school.
“I just gave him CPR, he was spitting up water, whatever he was eating and then he opened his eyes and then that is when the police came,” Bain said.
The child was rushed to Coral Springs Medical Center where he is being treated.
“It is a kid man, you don’t ever want to see nobody like that,” Bain said.
The boy is expected to be transported to Broward Health Medical Center. He is listed in stable condition.