Heart-pounding police bodycam footage captured the moment a Texas cop braved surging floodwaters to pluck a baby from a car overtaken by a swollen creek Saturday.
The heroics played out shortly before noon, when Beeville police responded to the scene where a family was trapped in a white sedan caught in the rising waters, police said on Facebook.
“Be advised, the car is going towards the creek. We got an infant in the car,” one cop is heard radioing in to headquarters. “I’m going in.”
The officer, identified by the department on Monday as Patrolman Matthew Fuentes, then walks into thigh-deep water and makes his way toward the vehicle.
“Give me the baby,” he said, grabbing the tot in his carrier and carrying him back to the shore.
“I got the baby out,” Fuentes radioed in.
The cop then covers the child and sets him down on the grass, as first responders rescued the rest of the family still stuck inside the submerged vehicle.
“Situations like this are a reminder that flood water is nothing to gamble with,” the department said in its Facebook post. “It does not take much moving water to push a vehicle off the roadway, and by the time you realize how dangerous it is, it can already be too late.
“No errand, shortcut, or destination is worth risking your life or your family’s safety.”
Beeville, which is about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, was pounded by heavy rain over the weekend, leading to major flooding.
Read the full article here