KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. — A six-year-old child was saved from drowning Friday by two Kill Devil Hills Police officers whose quick action headed off a potential tragedy.
According to a spokesperson for the KDH Police Department, they were informed around 9:20 a.m. Friday morning a 6-year-old, non-verbal, severely autistic boy, was missing after managing to slip away unnoticed from his family while they were packing to leave a residence in the Bermuda Bay neighborhood.
Bermuda Bay is located near Colington Road and is described as a densely packed neighborhood with winding streets and cul-de-sacs.
The department immediately dispatched every available officer, administrator, and investigator to begin a coordinated search for the missing child.
About 15 minutes after department personnel were initially dispatched, Kill Devil Hills patrol officers Joey Delmonte and Austin Gray spotted the boy floating in a pond in the southern section of Bermuda Bay near Paget Road.
Officers Gray and Delmonte immediately jumped in the water. They reached the child just as the child began to sink under the surface. The officers removed the child from the water and immediately began administering first aid. The spokesperson said that after being removed from the pond, the child was struggling to breathe as he had ingested a considerable amount of water.
Personnel from the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and Dare County EMS arrived and provided further medical care. A civilian bystander who declined to be identified also joined the officers in their efforts to save the child.
After the initial treatment, the child was taken to Outer Banks Hospital for further evaluation.
The spokesperson said: "Normally we don’t mention individual officers in our press releases because we view everything we do as a team effort. However, every so often, an individual (or individuals) need to be singled out for their extraordinary effort."
He continued: "Really, really proud of our guys. Where the kid went in the water there is an incline and then a steep drop-off you can’t see from the surface."
He said: "Officer Delmonte is an 11-year veteran and has been with Kill Devil Hills PD since 2019, coming to our agency after 7 years with Portsmouth PD. Officer Gray is a 5-year veteran. He left KDHPD approximately a year ago and just returned last week. Officer Gray previously worked with the Dare County Sheriff’s office."
