LAUDERHILL, Fla. – Bodycam footage released Tuesday by the Lauderhill Police Department shows officers coming to the rescue of a 10-year-old girl who nearly drowned in a pool last month.
The near drowning was reported just after 7:30 p.m. May 12 at a home in the 4700 block of Northwest 18th Street.
Police said officers arrived at the home and made contact with the girl’s family members who had pulled the girl from the water before officers arrived.
The officers then performed CPR on the child until Lauderhill Fire Rescue arrived.
“Stay with me. It’s going to be OK. Just keep breathing,” an officer is heard telling the girl in the video as she moans.
The girl was transported by Lauderhill Fire Rescue to Broward Health Medical Center where she was initially listed in critical condition.
The girl is doing much better and is expected to reunite with her rescuers on Wednesday.
The investigation into what led to the near drowning remains ongoing.
According to the Florida Department of Health, from 2018 to 2020 combined, Florida was ranked the highest in the U.S. for the number of accidental drownings among children ages 0 to 9.
“Annually there are enough children under the age of 5 lost to drowning (50 in 2019, 60 in 2020, and 75 in 2021) to fill three or four preschool classrooms,” the health department posted on its website.
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