Given the tragedies involving autistic children who eloped and drowned in a body of water, we have a happy ending thanks to a Florida deputy who, despite the ugly odds, went all in on finding a missing child, using his agency-provided Autism Awareness Training to save a youngster’s life.
With this, we can trumpet Volusia County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) Deputy Wes Brough and lavish the deserved praises earned by heroes.
On August 6, 2024, as the entirety of Florida was recouping from the torrents deposited by Hurricane Debby (a crucial factor in this successful saga), the sheriff’s office received a 9-1-1 call from the family of a young child with autism, reporting that he eloped.
The family and neighbors were out searching but needed help.
The deputies with VCSO not only served as additional searchers but also brought resources to help achieve mission success.
Let’s delve into a press release from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office:
“Deputies responded to a report of a missing child around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday [August 6, 2024] at a home on Valmont Lane, Deltona. The boy’s father told deputies his 5-year-old son escaped the house through a second-story door, which set off an alarm. The family immediately began looking, asked neighbors for help, and called 911.
“Deputies searched the house and the immediate area with no luck. But knowing that the 5-year-old had autism and was attracted to water, deputies began checking bodies of water near the neighborhood. Deputy Brough and others headed for a pond a few blocks away behind Toluca Court.”
Deputies gave us a glimpse…
From footage recorded by Deputy Brough’s body-worn camera (BWC), we have a bird’s eye view of the terrain he is navigating. We can hear him breathing like a track star who is highly trained and invested in mission success.
For Deputy Brough, the winning ingredient is finding a wayward developmentally delayed child and bringing him home safely, ultimately enabling that massive horsepower heart rate to slow and rest easy (before the next call).
This is one example of the many adrenaline-pumping calls police experience, impacting physiology by the nature of a profession that endures the rollercoaster rides laden with stressors.
In this incident, the suspense increased the stress…
With minutes to spare, the sun surely descending and giving way to darkness where there are no utility poles providing nightlight, timing became a tremendous factor.
Having been on calls such as this, aside from any law enforcement officer committed to an event requiring absolute attention and presence (homicide), most on-duty assets pretty much stop what they’re doing (leave lunch on the table and go swiftly), and head to the address in question. All hands on deck protocol…
Far and wide, the sheriff’s office safety net was cast. It paid off.
“Around 7:48 p.m., Deputy Brough heard a voice and spotted the boy out in the water, hanging onto a log.”
After wisely shedding his body armor (his body-worn camera attached) to allow more buoyancy in a water-borne lifesaving instance, backup deputies’ BWCs recorded the rescue footage.
“Deputy Brough jumped into the pond and carried the boy to dry land, where he was medically cleared and returned to his family.”
Once the child was located, scooped up, safely brought back to drier soil, and given a cursory examination by deputies, a solemn sign that a youngster with autism evolved: The boy’s curiosity compelled him to touch Deputy Brough’s beard, a sure sign of bonding… right there on the spot.
Autistic children explore tactile sensations. My autistic daughter clings to large stuffed animals, providing both a tactile experience as well as a soothing safety shield (extreme anxiety diagnosis).
Another dynamic of autism is the dimension of not sensing danger, thus one reason why autistic youngsters gravitate to water (sensory) and do not heed the perils (cognition).
As for the sensory component related to autism, my daughter is calmed by “water therapy.” As a child, we happily paid the price of exorbitant water bills jacked up by chronic-flowing faucets gently dropping water onto her outstretched palms. Albeit non-verbal, her facial expression signaled balance in an ordinarily uproarious demeanor.
According to the Autism Society of Florida, “…water offers a multisensory experience that fulfills multiple needs at once. The visual aspects of water, like its sparkling, bubbling, and reflective properties, can be particularly captivating. The sensation of water on the skin, combined with the pressure it exerts, can provide a soothing effect and address tactile sensory sensitivities. The smells associated with water, such as the saltiness of the ocean or the chlorine in a pool, may also be intriguing and stimulating for individuals with autism.”
Autism Awareness Training for Police Personnel
The nuances involving autism are vast and somewhat complex.
As a policeman and father of an autistic child, I was invited by the University of South Florida as a source for their research project to train law enforcement agency personnel about the nuances of autism and how cops can better serve the sensitive demographic. A tri-fold brochure was produced and distributed by the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (C.A.R.D.), enabling LEOs and public safety dispatchers a wider view of associated factors.
That was back in the day. Contemporarily, law enforcement organizations have implemented in-service training modules solely concentrated on autism and its dynamics. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies are among the trained public safety servants.
“Like all VSO deputies, Deputy Brough has received Autism Awareness Training to help prepare for a wide variety of calls involving people with autism, including missing children. Great job to all involved on this call!”
As any public safety professional is expected to do, deputies covered all bases after the heroic save by Deputy Brough, going back to ground zero and evaluating precipitous events so that a repeat is precluded.
Investigators determined that “the family had taken several measures to secure the house, including the alarm on the door that immediately alerted them the boy had gone missing.”
I noticed the boy had the name “Coco” in black, bold letters across the back of his t-shirt, as seen in the photo directly above, a sign that his family endeavored to mark him, a typical measure taken by parents of autists who are non-verbal.
Names and emergency contact numbers on wristbands are also commonplace features in this context. My daughter’s pockets were always lined with laminated index cards slid into her pocket, listing our family’s contact info…just in case.
I heard Coco coo and hum, typical signs of delayed speech (a non-verbal autistic child).
When the first wave of deputies arrived at the scene, the eloped boy’s loved ones and neighbors were out searching the community. It takes a village…some of whom have silver and gold stars pinned on their chests.
‘Your Sheriff Called You an Angel’
In post-incident media interviews, Deputy Brough exuded a genuine hero’s demeanor: humbled, thankful for a positive outcome, ready for the next call, but not before giving glory to God for using him as a principle toward someone’s salvation.
Deputy Brough’s opening statement at the mix of media mics: “I thanked God a lot, for putting me in that position, one. And two, for allowing that kid to be above water and breathing fine when we got there.” Sharing credit with his deputy colleagues speaks to the character of the hero.
He continued: “So that is all glory to God. And putting me in the right place at the right time. I’m very thankful.
“I have three children of my own, one being a five-year-old. So to have him hold on to me tightly like that, it really felt like he was my own kid holding on to me.”
Deputy Brough gave “a huge shout out to our training program, that they instill that in us all the time.”
Heralding training in law enforcement is something that would not have any legs to stand on if defunders of police agencies got their way. Thankfully, Sheriff Chitwood does not care for that ilk and backs his men and women in uniform doing the job at great risk to themselves.
That little boy named Coco may not have the mindset to understand what happened but he is safe and knows a man with a strawberry-blonde beard and a silver star is now a family friend.