Pensacola Police Officers save 3 year old girl found floating in pool
PENSACOLA, FL - Two Pensacola Police Officers are credited with saving the life of a 3 year old girl who was found floating in a pool by family members.
Officer Kyle Skipper was enroute to a disturbance call when he heard a call come over the radio for a 3 year old girl that had been found floating in a swimming pool. Officer Skipper turned around and headed towards the call.
Officer Robert Lindblom was also dispatched to the call.
The Pensacola News Journal reported that Officer Skipper was the first to arrive on scene. Footage from his body camera shows him running through the backyard towards the pool.
“Of course, I was thinking about my own daughter who is the same age,” Skipper said. “But at the same time, you have to forget that stuff. You have to compartmentalize it; you can't dwell on that. If you do, that may be your half-a-second reaction time or your thought process that you need. You have to stay focused on the situation you’re in.”
Officer Skipper took the girl, whose grandmother was attempting CPR, and began hitting the toddlers back. Officer Lindblom arrived and started to prepare an automated external defibrillator, Pensacola Police Spokesman Mike Wood said.
In the video you can see the girl’s lifeless body, non-responsive and her hands are turning purple. Both officers continued to perform back thrust and can be seen rubbing her back.
FInally the girl took a small breath. Wood wrote that, “The officers laid the child on her side in an attempt to keep her airway clear”
Paramedics finally arrived and transported the girl to a local hospital.
The attending doctor at the hospital told Pensacola News Journal that without the efforts of Officer Skipper and Officer Lindblom, the little girl would not have survived the drowning.
The girl has since made a full recovery and is back at home. Officer Skipper got to meet with her for the first time since the incident. “She came up and gave me a big hug,” he said.
Officer Skipper and Officer Lindblom, thank you for your service. You are both true heroes.