Manatee deputies honored after tandem rescue saves 5-year-old boy

Manatee deputies honored after tandem rescue saves 5-year-old boy

MANATEE -- Deputies Angel Buxeda and Grant Steube have been named co-deputies of the month for February by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Buxeda responded to a call Jan. 30 at Camp Flying Eagle on the Manatee River where a person was in the water yelling for help.

Buxeda jumped in the first water craft he saw -- a canoe -- and started paddling blindly upstream, calling out to get a location on the person needing help. He soon came upon a capsized boat and a father holding his 5 year-old son's head above the water.

The child's shirt was entangled in the propeller of the boat motor and had pulled in tight. He was having trouble breathing and was in hypothermic shock from the cold water.

Buxeda helped another man on scene rip off the child's shirt piece by piece until he could be pulled away from the propeller.

Two Boy Scouts on scene removed some of their clothes to wrap up the child.

Buxeda saw only one way out of the water a distance away.

He worked with Steube who had arrived and was calling out to guide him to the river edge. When Buxeda got to the bank, Steube ran carrying the child to awaiting emergency medical personnel. The deputies stayed at the child's side offering words of comfort and assisting EMS.

The location of the incident was heavily wooded with no roadways and reachable only by boat. The air temperature was low and the water extremely cold.

"In the face of all of these odds, they ignored their own safety to render emergency assistance," according to a release from the sheriff's office. "If not for their quick actions and use of resources, an emergency response would have been delayed. Their efforts certainly saved the child's life."

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee deputies honored after tandem rescue saves 5-year-old boy ."