A Florida toddler is being credited as a hero after accidentally calling 911 during his father’s medical emergency, according to WTSP-TV.
What are the details?
Hernando County, Florida, deputies responded to a 911 hang-up call last week — which turned into a medical intervention.
Deputy Nathan Kent told the station that the child “tried typing the password [on his father’s cell phone] and it had 30 attempts that was the wrong password.”
“It was probably accidental that he hit the button,” he added, and explained that such calls are “very common.”
When authorities arrived on the scene, they discovered a naked toddler roaming around the apartment’s parking lot.
“Having a kid myself, I was more concerned, ‘Hey, why is there an unsupervised kid?’ And that’s when I started looking around, and I saw the apartment complex door open with a bunch of kid toys.”
According to a press release from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, Kent entered the home to find an unconscious man — the child’s father — who was unresponsive and without a pulse.
Kent began emergency rescue attempts, and the man began breathing on his own.
“That’s when fire rescue walked in and saw everything, so I just thought, ‘Let me try to keep the kid calm so this isn’t very tragic for him’,” he added.
First responders rushed the child’s father to a nearby hospital for treatment and observation.
The release noted, “Hospital staff advised the man was having a medical episode but would make a full recovery.”
Kent also impressed the importance of teaching children to prepare for such uncertain times.
Kent added, “My biggest thing is teaching your kids what to do in times like this, saying, ‘Hey, if something happens, go to a neighbor, get my phone, call somebody.’ Try to have some kind of setup just like a fire drill.”