Florida Sheriff’s Officer Finds a Missing Autistic 5-year-old Boy in a Pond and Saves Him

DELTONA, Fla. — When the officer heard the cries of a missing 5-year-old autistic boy, he ran through the woods, took off his bulletproof vest, and ran into a pond.

As they walked back to dry land in Deltona, Florida, on Tuesday evening, Volusia County Sheriff’s Deputy Wes Brough picked up the boy and the boy wrapped his arms around Brough’s neck. Deltona is near Daytona Beach on Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

“I thanked God a lot for putting me there and for making sure that kid was above water and breathing well when we got there,” Brough said. “Thank God I was in the right place at the right time.”

Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to a report of a missing kid. A story about the event shared on the sheriff’s Facebook page says the father told deputies that the child had gotten out through a door on the second floor, which set off an alarm.

The family and friends began to look. A person called 911.

The report said that Brough and a few other officers went to a nearby pond after hearing that the child liked water.

At 7:48 p.m., Brough heard the boy’s voice and saw him in the water holding on to a log.

The boy’s family had taken several steps to make the house safe, including putting an alarm on that door, according to the sheriff’s office. They knew the child had left the house because of that.

Brough said that the training they got, which included Autism Awareness Training, equipped him to handle any situation. Body cams on the deputy caught the rescue.

“I have three kids of my own, and one of them is 5 years old,” Brough said. “Getting that tight grip on me made me feel like my own child was holding on to me.”