LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Florida — An off-duty Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue firefighter-paramedic and an off-duty Miami-Dade Fire Rescue lieutenant helped save a young child who was pulled from a hotel pool, according to TAPinto Parkland.
The report said Broderick Espinoza, a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue firefighter-paramedic, was off duty at the Plunge Beach Resort on May 24 when someone realized a child was submerged in the water shortly after 4 p.m.
According to the report, the child had no pulse when Espinoza began CPR. He was assisted by off-duty Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Jesus Fuentes, and the child regained a pulse and expelled water from his lungs within a short period.
TAPinto reported that a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy responded to 911 calls, as did Pompano Beach Fire Rescue. Espinoza carried the child to on-duty paramedics, and the child was taken to a hospital, kept overnight and later released after being checked out.
Training that mattered before the ambulance arrived
Two off-duty nurses also assisted, according to the report. ThinBlueNews is keeping the child's identification limited and focusing on the public-safety response: trained people recognized the emergency, started CPR and kept care moving until on-duty first responders took over.
For Support Law Enforcement readers, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea rescue is a reminder that the first person who saves a life may be off duty, out of uniform and still carrying the training that matters in the first minute.
The Broward Sheriff's Office also urged families to make water safety a priority as summer approaches, including close adult supervision near water, keeping small children within arm's reach, having rescue equipment and a phone nearby, teaching children to swim or float, and learning CPR, according to the report.
Source reviewed
Editorial note: ThinBlueNews used the real BSO-attributed source image published by TAPinto, cropped away from the close medical-care area, and did not create or use fake rescue imagery.