BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. — A South Florida police commander has received a lifesaving award one year after his CPR helped revive a toddler who had been pulled unresponsive from a swimming pool.
WSVN 7News reported that Bay Harbor Islands Police Commander Tomas Rego was recognized during a Town Council meeting Wednesday, Aug. 19. The department presented him with a lifesaving award for his actions on July 3, 2025.
Screams lead Rego to a child in distress
According to the station’s report, Rego was off duty but conducting an additional patrol in the Indian Creek canal when he heard a woman screaming. He went to a waterfront home and saw that a then-1-year-old child had been pulled from a pool.
Police Chief Luis Alvarez told WSVN that he was already on the phone with Rego when the emergency unfolded. Alvarez said the child was unconscious, was not breathing and had no pulse as Rego began calming the child’s mother and providing care.
Rego administered CPR. WSVN reported that after two rounds, the child responded, became sick and cried. The report does not describe any continuing medical complications, and the family said the child has since celebrated another birthday and is now 2 years old.
ThinBlueNews is omitting the child’s name and residential details because she is a minor. The article also limits medical description to the facts publicly attributed to the police chief and family in WSVN’s report.
A rescue recognized one year later
The Aug. 19 ceremony brought Rego and the family together in front of the community. WSVN reported that the commander received several honors, including the police department’s lifesaving award.
The recognition focused not only on the result but on the preparation behind it. Rego is a trained CPR instructor who teaches the skill to fellow officers and local officials. His response shows why emergency medical training remains a practical part of civilian law-enforcement service: the first officer to reach a crisis may have to begin care before fire-rescue personnel arrive.
Rego also credited the bond created by the rescue. The family told WSVN that it stays in contact with him, while the commander described seeing the child alive and well as the most meaningful reward.
The Town of Bay Harbor Islands maintains an official agendas and meeting-recordings portal. ThinBlueNews relies on WSVN’s on-scene report for the ceremony, rescue timeline, medical details and quoted recollections; the Town link is provided as the official public-meeting repository.
Readers can find more verified acts of service in our police hero stories, police rescue news and positive police news sections.
Sources and visual disclosure
- WSVN 7News — Aug. 19 report and video from the recognition ceremony.
- Town of Bay Harbor Islands — official agendas and meeting-recordings portal.
Visual note: WSVN’s ceremony and interview video remains embedded from the publisher’s player. Public availability does not establish permission to republish WSVN or family pixels, so ThinBlueNews did not copy a source photograph or video frame. The featured image is original photo-independent editorial artwork and is clearly labeled as not an incident image.
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