DELTONA, Fla. — Central Florida deputies rescued a missing autistic boy from a pond in Deltona on Tuesday night.
His father said the 5-year-old ran out of a door and set off an alarm.
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Volusia County deputies searched the home and yard with no luck.
Autistic kids face a greater risk of drowning due to a behavior known as “elopement,” a tendency to wander off. The National Autism Association said they are 160 times more likely to drown than other children.
The deputies then started searching nearby bodies of water after a sighting from neighbors.
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The moment they found the boy was caught on body-worn camera video.
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VSO said that around 7:48 p.m., Deputy Wes Brough heard a voice and spotted the boy out in the water, hanging onto a log, our sister station WFTV in Orlando reports.
“He was holding on to a dead tree stump, barely sticking out of the water, I was able to run out to the water and grab him, and when I did, the tree stump broke in half. I’m glad we were out there when we did,” Brough said.
Brough jumped into the pound and carried the boy out of the water, where he was medically cleared and returned to his family.
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