A child pulled from a pond at an apartment complex Thursday morning on Jacksonville’s Westside was in “very critical condition” at the hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said first responders were called to the Madelyn Oaks Apartments off Lenox Avenue around 9:45 a.m. when an alert resident spotted two young children playing in the retention pond.
A resident, who didn’t want to be identified, said they witnessed the officer running to the pond and jumping in to try to save the child. She said a maintenance man also helped. “The officer appears to be fine. She went home to dry her equipment off and get a fresh change of clothes,” Hinson said. “But talking to her supervisor, she seems to be fine.”
He said the two had been in the care of an older teenage relative, and investigators with JSO and the Department of Children and Families are working to learn how the children were able to get to the pond while the teen was in the apartment.Sky4 aerials showed crime scene tape surrounding the rear of a building at the apartment complex that backs up to the large pond, which is not fenced.“Be cognizant of retention ponds,” Hinson warned.