El Mirage police officers save 2-year-old girl from near-drowning

New video shows the moment two El Mirage police officers jumped into action to save a toddler from drowning over the weekend. On Saturday, just before 6:30 p.m., officers were called to a home near El Mirage and Cactus roads for reports of a child drowning. Within minutes, Officer Tyler Winger and Officer Garrin DeRonde arrived and immediately began tending to the 2-year-old girl, who was pulled from the backyard pool.

The officer’s body-cams show the two sprinting inside the home. “Where’s she at?” Winger asks. “Bedroom, bedroom, bedroom!” another person yells as Winger runs to the back bedroom. He finds the little girl lying down, struggling to breathe. Winger immediately begins chest compressions, and the toddler starts to move slightly. “There she is, hey, sweetheart,” the two officers say. However, the toddler doesn’t open her eyes and is still struggling to breathe. “Come on, come on, keep going,” DeRonde tells Winger.

Winger continues CPR as DeRonde moves her legs, and the little girl spits up water. “There she goes!” the officers say as Winger quickly flips her over, patting her back. “There you go,” Winger says, coaxing the toddler to cry. “Come on baby, cry, cry,” the toddler’s mother says. DeRonde continues patting her back, and she begins crying and spitting up more water. “There we go, come on,” the two say. Finally, the officers stand the little girl up. The video ends with officers fist-bumping each other for a well-done job and saving a life. “Good job,” DeRonde tells Winger.

The toddler was taken to the hospital to be checked out. “Thanks to the quick response by our officers, a child’s life was saved,” said El Mirage Police Chief Paul Marzocca. “The relentless life-saving efforts by officers show their dedication to protecting the lives of our community members.”