CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (WKRC/WBBH/CNN Newsource) – A family was reunited thanks to a heroic rescue after a crash. The dramatic moments were caught on camera.
Sgt. Dave Musgrove, with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, was driving his cruiser when he saw a motorcycle racing at 100 miles per hour.
Right before his eyes, the motorcycle plowed into an SUV.
“About 10 seconds after that motorcycle passed, I saw a flash in the distance and a cloud of smoke,” he said.
Kayleigh Foley was driving the SUV, with her two young children in the back.
“I remember looking to my left, and I just see him and a big bright light, then a crash,” said Foley.
Musgrove raced to the scene, first pulling three-year-old Ariel out of the vehicle.
Thinking she was the only child inside, he then went back for the mother.
“I assured the mother, Ariel was fine and she said, ‘No, my baby,’ and I didn’t see a baby,” Musgrove said.
Six-month-old Lola was trapped in her car seat, which was stuck, underneath the dead motorcyclist.
Musgrove wasted no time getting to her.
“Seconds are minutes, minutes are hours,” he said.
After freeing Lola, he realized she wasn’t breathing and began performing CPR.
“I lost my fiancé six months ago, and what was running through my head was, ‘I can’t lose anybody else,'” Foley said.
Musgrove was successful, and once Lola was breathing, she was rushed to the hospital.
“I wanted to do as much as I could to help her,” said Musgrove.
Baby Lola remains in the ICU. Foley and Ariel were treated and released.
“He’s our hero,” said Foley.
“He is. We will never repay him for what he did, because what he did for us was life changing,” said the children’s grandmother.
Musgrove says he isn’t a hero, and simply went into autopilot and did his job.
“I’m a father. I’m caring. We’re all cops. We all care. She’s innocent. She didn’t deserve this,” he said.
The family says he did so much more.
“He is such a genuine person. He is a person that is actually compassionate, and kind, and cares,” said Foley. “He said, ‘It’s my job,’ but I said, ‘Yeah, they don’t teach you those things in the police academy. You have to be a good person to do what you’ve done and still what you’re doing.'”