Florida deputy, good Samaritans rescue mom, 5 kids from car wreck
By: A Florida deputy helped rescue a and her five children from her vehicle after they were involved in a crash on a highway, dramatic body camera footage shows.
Hillsborough County Sergeant Donnie Rizer spotted a vehicle overturned on its side surrounded by bystanders around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.
The vehicle had been T-boned by another car on US Hwy. 301 as it turned onto I-75, the sheriff’s office told WFLA.
Rizer pulled over as a group of good Samaritans were extracting the kids from the car and “swiftly took charge,” police said.
The and four of her children had been pulled from the vehicle, but one still remained inside.
He saw “two small s” through the sunroof, and “risking his own safety, removed his vest and equipment belt and crawled into the vehicle, rescuing the last child and ensuring their safety,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Rizer’s bodycam footage was released by police on Thursday.
In the clip, you can hear a child inside the wrecked vehicle screaming as the group and the deputy try to get them out.
“I can’t unbuckle it!” the little girl screams through tears at the officer, pulling on her seatbelt, which strapped her into a carseat.
“Ok, we’re gonna come get you,” he responds calmly as he begins moving debris around from inside the car, video shows. “It’s okay, baby,” he says.
He reaches in with one hand and unclips her seatbelt, and she unwraps it from her leg, still sobbing. He grabs her and hands her to the behind him.
The sheriff’s office said he then went back inside of the vehicle to grab a pacifier for one of the “distressed children.”