This is one of the bravest things I’ve seen in a good long while.
Officer Me’Atia Sanderson of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was the first to respond to a call, on June 9th, of a possible infant drowning in a retention pond.
Me’Atia, who is a mother herself, started running as soon as she left her squad car, to find out the situation.
When she was alerted that the baby was underwater, she acted as much as a mother than as an officer.
She ran into the water, “oh shit, oh shit, oh Lord, I’m getting him, I’m getting him, I’m getting him”, and then she dove underwater to locate the baby.
Me’Atia can’t swim.
And has always been scared of the water.
And was loaded down with forty pounds of gear, including her vest and belt and boots.
But there was no time to take anything off, or to think.
There was just time to act, and act she did, even if that meant bringing harm to herself.
Her bodycam footage was recently released by the JSO, and it shows the best of us.
( Trigger warning, friends. )
After locating the infant, she passed him to the complex maintenance man, who brought him out of the pond and onto the grass, where Me’Atia performed CPR on the tiny body until she was relieved by paramedics.
“Come on, baby,” Me’Atia can be heard saying as she performs CPR. “Come on!”
Said a resident who didn’t want to be identified, “They were able to do like teamwork. She was able to give the baby to the maintenance guy and now she’s trying to help herself get out of there because she got on her safety gear, her duty belt, stuff like that. She did an amazing job like doing what she could do.”
It was enough.
The baby lived, and without any adverse effects or brain damage.
Said the JSO….
“Ofc. Sanderson, who does not know how to swim herself, without a second hesitation, entered the pond to retrieve the child and performed CPR until she was relieved by other responding officers.
Captain Christopher Scott with JFRD authored a letter to JSO on behalf of Ofc. Sanderson recognizing the impact her ‘quick and decisive decision to go into the retention pond’ made. Her actions, while putting her own life at risk, undoubtedly saved the child’s life.”
Friends, there are way too many bad cops.
Too many.
But for the good ones…..
Today, I watched another video for the first time, from Atlanta, of a perp who stole a car and kidnapped a child, and who drove beyond recklessly to escape
When finally caught, well, watch the officer, who was obviously a father himself, run and hug and squeeze and comfort the child. He ran towards him, with his arms out, like it was his own kid.
The officer's natural instinct to hug and comfort the stunned and scared child says volumes.
And the child’s reaction. ( please skip to 3:00 )
Indeed, naturally we should call out, and in no uncertain terms, the rotten, violent and corrupt.
I felt compelled to call out the blessed, the good, the public servants, and groove to the awareness of their presence amongst us.
Balancing the scales, if but for just a bit.
No rhyme nor reason.
Just because.