‘Best Cry That I Ever Heard’: Boy Saved From Car Submerged In FL Canal

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL — A 3-year-old boy was recently rescued from a car submerged in a South Florida canal by officers with the Miami-Dade County Police Department.

By the time they responded to the scene, the car had been in the water for several minutes and good Samaritans were trying to help the father get his son out of a car seat, the agency said in a video about the rescue. (Watch the rescue below.)

“The call went out. It was a child in danger and that is what all cops fear,” Sgt. Edward Webster said.

Officer Emmanuel Walton III added, “This (call) was different because as a father, when you hear a child’s under water in a vehicle and their parent can’t get ‘em out, the first emotion that clicks in your head is ‘go.’”

The car was stuck under a bridge on an embankment with a steep incline, making it difficult for officers to walk near it.

Walton said he couldn’t see through the water as he tried to reach the child.

“Basically, I used touch to figure out what was what inside the vehicle,” he said. “Eventually I felt the baby seat, the car seat, and I pulled it as hard as I could, ‘cause I couldn’t figure out where the seatbelt was or anything of that nature. Luckily, it broke off and the child was able to pop up to the top of the car, so I snatched him out and handed him off as soon as I could.”

Once the child was out of the car, there was still more work to do, Webster said. “It was great when Walton brought the child out, but it wasn’t over yet.”

Officers began performing CPR on the boy, waiting for signs of life.

“I was talking to the child, holding his head, telling him it was going to be fine; he was going to be OK,” Officer Julian Reyes said.

Eventually, they were able to resuscitate the toddler, who began breathing.

“When the baby started crying, I started crying, too, because it was the best cry that I ever heard in my life,” Officer Junior Clervil said.

Watch the officers work to rescue the child from the car submerged under a Miami-Dade County bridge: