Boy Pulled From Michigan Lake Not Breathing—Saved by Policewoman Who Rushed to Scene

Trooper Casey Deater of the Michigan State Police. Courtesy of Michigan State Police/ Shutterstock/ Melanie90210

It was unclear for how long the unconscious boy had stopped breathing, but Trooper Casey Deater was nearby when she heard the dispatcher’s alert from her cruiser in a church parking lot in Brooks township, Michigan.

Deater, a member of the Michigan State Police, was “just trying to catch up on reports” when she heard the call go out “that there was a reported 4-year-old that had been pulled out of the water face down, not breathing,” she told WWJ radio after the July 19 incident.

Responding to an address on 88th Street, Deater arrived at the home and was told the boy was lying at the end of a dock at a nearby lake.

“I just remember running as fast as I could down to the dock with my AED device, which you used for CPR, to help assist you,” she said. “When I got there he was unresponsive, not breathing.”

Deater recalled her thoughts in the moment: “I’ve never done CPR on a child before,“ she said. ”I want to do anything in my power to save him and to make sure he lives, and I know that if I let my emotions get out of control, or if I’m crying or upset, or allow any of those emotions to seep in, it will prevent me from saving him.”

A stock photo of a dock at a lake. Shutterstock/Melanie90210

Deater says she doesn’t know how long he had been underwater but immediately started chest compressions and trying to talk to him. Several members of the boy’s family were there beside him. A woman got on the phone with 911, and she and the officer cooperated to resuscitate the boy.

“I told her to, you know, tilt his head back,” Deater said. “And she started doing breaths while I was doing chest compressions, telling her that the breaths were good, they were going in.”

Soon, there was a response from the boy.

“Once I heard a noise, I kind of tilted his head,” Deater said. “He started to spit up water, and I continued to chest compressions until I could feel like the rest of the water got out.”

She says she heard him let out a faint cry.

As the officer sternum-rubbed and talked to the now-conscious boy, he started to cry more. The fire department soon arrived and helped Deater carry him from the dock onto the lawn, where he received oxygen.

“He was fully responsive by that time, breathing, crying, which was a good sound to hear,” she said.

Trooper Casey Deater of the Michigan State Police. Courtesy of Michigan State Police

Deater gave credit to her training at the police academy. “In our academy, they do a fantastic job with training us in CPR, children’s CPR,” she told the radio station.

“It’s just so important that everyone knows it, because those seconds do matter,” she added. “I know that some of those family members started to do some lifesaving things before I got there, but it was all just very traumatic for them, and so being able to respond there so quickly and assist them and help and help the situation, that was really important.”

The next day, Deater checked in on the mother to see how the boy was doing. He had been taken from the scene to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital but has since been released and is now expected to make a full recovery.

His mother “was just grateful for all the first responders that responded so quickly to the scene and helped her son,” Deater said. “And he’s fine, happy, got a stuffed animal.”