MIAMI – Residents who live along a man-made lake just off 112th Avenue and 243rd Street say a boy was in pretty bad shape when he was pulled out of the water by a Miami-Dade police officer and off-duty Florida Highway Patrol major Monday afternoon.
At 3:30 p.m. Monday while off-duty at his home, troopers said a neighbor of FHP Maj. Sammie Thomas knocked on his door and asked for his help in finding the neighbor's 2-year-old child, who had been missing for 20 minutes.
Thomas and a Miami-Dade police officer, who troopers said had been dispatched to the call, were canvasing the area near the lake when a security guard spotted what appeared to be tennis shoes floating in the lake.
The boy was found floating face down near the edge of the lake, according to FHP.
Both Thomas and the officer jumped in the water and were able to retrieve the unresponsive boy from the lake. Once they reached the edge of the lake, troopers said Thomas and the county officer performed CPR on the child until EMS arrived.
The child was airlifted to Miami Children's Hospital, where officials said he remains in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit.
It's not yet clear how the boy ended up in the water.
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