ICE officer saves 6-year-old from drowning in Florida pool
ICE officer Gregory Simmonds recounted the dramatic May 16 rescue of a 6-year-old who nearly drowned in a Florida swimming pool, an incident captured on surveillance video. Simmonds said he jumped into the water fully clothed, pulled the unconscious child from the pool and performed CPR, ultimately helping save the child’s life. He also spoke about the criticism currently directed at the agency.
A Florida mother is being remembered as a hero after authorities and relatives said she used her final strength to keep her 4-year-old son above water in the St. Johns River, giving rescuers enough time to bring the boy to safety.
Nicole Grayson, 43, leapt into the river after her young son fell in at Ed Stone Park, located west of DeLand, at about 4 p.m. Saturday, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said the boy had been playing with an unidentified object near a wooden fence by the riverbank when it slipped over the barrier. As he tried to get it back, he fell into the water.
Grayson did not hesitate, going into the river after him.
Nicole Grayson drowned after rescuing her 4-year-old son from the St. Johns River in Central Florida. (GoFundMe)
“My guess is he was trying to get it. He slipped in the water, deep, he slipped away in the water,” Grayson’s oldest son, Dafino Devega, told FOX 35. “And then my mom, I guess she panicked, and she went in the water and tried to save him.”
While Grayson fought to keep her son’s head above the surface, a park witness stopped a passing boater for help. The boater then threw two life preservers toward the mother and child, the sheriff’s office said.
Grayson eventually became submerged while continuing to hold her son above the water.
A frantic 911 caller told dispatchers that rescuers had managed to reach the child but were still struggling to recover his mother.
“Hey 911, can you come to Ed Stone Park?” the caller said in audio obtained by FOX 35. “We have a mother that’s drowned, and we got the baby, but we can’t get the mama.”
A memorial of daisies is placed near a fence where Volusia sheriff’s deputies said a 4-year-old fell over into the St. Johns River on July 18. The child’s mother drowned after she jumped in to save her son, according to deputies. (Patricio G. Balona / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The boater maneuvered close enough to pull the 4-year-old aboard. The boy was unharmed, according to authorities.
Witness Jon Reaka said Grayson appeared to expend all her energy ensuring her son survived.
“She spent all her energy trying to get her kid up over the edge,” Reaka told FOX 35.
Reaka jumped over a railing and onto the boat, where he helped pull Grayson from the river. She was unresponsive when she was brought aboard.
“I jumped over the rail, jumped onto the boat and pulled the lady up onto the boat and, you know, we started CPR — I started CPR and mouth-to-mouth immediately,” Reaka said.
Emergency medical personnel took over lifesaving measures after arriving at the park. Grayson was rushed to a hospital, where efforts to revive her continued for several hours.
She died in the intensive care unit around 10 p.m. Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.
“I tried everything I could do to save her,” Reaka told FOX 35. “You know, I feel horrible. I mean, it’s so sad what happened.”
Grayson was a mother of six whose final act reflected the fiercely protective way she had lived, her family said.
“That’s the type of mom that she was; she was a hero,” Devega said.
“My mom, she was a strong woman,” he added. “She would do anything to keep her kids safe.”
Nicole Grayson was a 43-year-old Florida mother of six who died after jumping into the St. Johns River to save her 4-year-old son. (GoFundMe)
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood praised the witnesses and boater who rushed to help Grayson and her son.
“Sheriff Chitwood and the entire Volusia Sheriff’s Office send sincere thanks all who jumped in to help with the rescue, and deepest condolences to Ms. Grayson’s family and friends for their loss of a mother who gave her life to save her son,” the department said in a statement.
Chitwood said Grayson would be remembered as a hero, “not just because of her final heroic act, but because she was a mom who would do anything for her kids.”
