Garbage truck driver saves toddler after near drowning

As reported in the Miami Herald and CBS4

Highlights:

The boy might not be alive at all but for the fast actions of a garbage truck driver.

Miami Herald news partner CBS4 reports the driver, Andy Perez of Waste Pro, heard children screaming for help at a Miramar home located at 3708 Island Drive sometime before 11 a.m.

“A boy came to me and asked me if I knew CPR,” Perez said.

Perez said he immediately raced into the home, breathing into the child’s lungs, giving chest compressions and pumping lots of water from the boy, being careful to keep the child’s head to the side to prevent him from choking on the water as it was being expelled.

Perez continued to give the boy CPR until rescue crews arrived and took over. En route to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, paramedics were able to restore his pulse.

He was delighted to learn the boy was alive at the hospital.

“I’m very happy, because I have three kids, a granddaughter too, and I love them,” Perez said.

Back at the scene where it all happened, crime scene tape could be seen surrounding the home along with a rescue and police car.

An adult man was inside the home, along with three other children, the eldest being 15. Police say the man called 911 but then left the home, running hysterical in the street, not knowing what to do.

The man, police say, is the boyfriend of the little boy’s grandmother who was not home at the time. The victim was sleeping over his grandmother’s home.

Miramar Police are investigating the incident, and have not released the name of the victim, citing the ongoing investigation.

It is not known who was supposed to be watching the boy, how he gained access to the pool, or how long he was in the water before being discovered and by whom.