Me'Atia Sanderson: Heroic Florida cop who cannot swim jumps in retention pond to save drowning baby
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: A police officer from Florida reportedly saved an infant from drowning in a retention pond, despite not knowing how to swim herself. Officer Me’Atia Sanderson put her own life on the line to save the baby and was the first to arrive at the scene for the rescue that had happened on Thursday, June 9,
Accordint to the New York Post, Sanderson jumped in without a second thought upon learning about the baby. Bodycam footage released recently by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office showed Sanderson saying, “Come on, baby. Come on!” as she performs CPR to revive the toddler. She’s been with the sheriff’s office since 2019.
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The video of the incident was posted on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Facebook account, as a way of asking the community to thank the police for this year’s Thanksgiving. The caption says, “Police Officers across this country report to work each and everyday to protect and serve their communities. They show up each day knowing they will be faced with unimaginable challenges and dangers; yet they do not know what those challenges or dangers will be or how they will present themselves.”
“Sanderson, who does not know how to swim herself, without a second’s hesitation, entered the pond to retrieve the child and performed CPR until she was relieved by other responding officers,” the sheriff’s office reportedly said.
In the video, she is seen arriving at an apartment and getting out of her vehicle. She then sprints away from the vehicle and toward the retention pond behind the complex. Upon her arrival, passersby had told her that the infant was in the water.
"Help! Over here," a woman can be heard screaming to the officer. Sanderson asked the woman, "Where's the baby at?" The woman tells her that the toddler was underwater and points toward the pond. "He's somewhere under there," the woman said. Sanderson then jumps into the pond to help retrieve the child and her bodycam is submerged in the water for a long moment until she rescues the child and comes out of the pond. Immediately after, she frantically begins trying to revive the child.
The footage quickly shifts to two other officers also arriving at the scene and taking over to gove Sanderson some rest. The sheriff’s office said that Sanderson was being lauded and recognized for her “quick and decisive decision to go into the retention pond.” “Her actions, while putting her own life at risk, undoubtedly saved the child’s life,” the department said.