A St. Anthony Village firefighter was on the way to work when he spotted a chaotic situation unfolding on the roadside.
MINNEAPOLIS — A veteran Twin Cities firefighter and others joined forces to avert a tragedy and save the life of a young boy with autism.
Saint Anthony Village Fire Chief Mark Sitarz was driving to work Wednesday when he came upon a chaotic situation along Silver Lake Road in New Brighton. He saw a woman had pulled over and gotten out of her car, looking in his direction with a distressed look on her face.
“I looked to my right and I saw a young child running up the side of the road. No socks, no shoes. He was running and running, and his eyes were petrified.”
The woman turned out to be a good Samaritan, concerned for a small child who was scampering alongside the busy four-lane street. Chief Sitarz and the woman were both trying to cross the boulevard to get to the youngster when a man approached to say he was the father of the boy and that his son has autism.
“At first I just thought this was a child running from his mom at first. Once I had a little bit more information, things started to come together and it got real, really fast,” Sitarz said.
Suddenly the boy disappeared from view, heading down an embankment into a wooded area.
“I lost a visual with him. I didn’t see them. And then before I knew it all I could hear was screaming.”
The boy had made his way through the brush into a large algae-covered pond.
“The dad was yelling at me, ‘Help my son! Help my son! I can’t swim! He’s in the water!'” Sitarz said. “I looked down and he was already in the water, probably 20 yards in. And he was just going, going, going.”
Sitarz radioed for backup and headed down the embankment into the wooded area. He saw the good Samaritan had made it about 10 feet out into the pond but had stopped. She told him she couldn’t go farther in the marshy, muddy waters.
“As I got out there the deeper and deeper it got. It got up basically to my shoulders by the time I got to him,” Sitarz recalled. “And I’m walking in my stocking feet. I don’t know what I was walking through. I can tell you it didn’t smell like Irish Spring!”
By then, St. Anthony Village Police Officer Braden McNair had arrived at the shoreline and jumped into the water to assist.
“As I’m taking off my belt and my vest to go out and help him, I could see the kid’s head is dipping below the surface,” Officer McNair told KARE.
“You could tell that the child was maybe not understanding what was going on, maybe a little scared, trying to get away from us as we’re trying to help him get back out of the water.”
Both Sitarz and McNair said it was hard to move because the bottom of the pond was covered in deep mud. The child had made it 30 yards out into the pond by the time Sitarz caught up with him.
“I needed to get to him because, going under once and going under a second time, I just knew he was getting tired,” Sitarz recalled.
He said it seemed the boy didn’t understand that his life was in danger.
“As he popped up, he didn’t have fear in his eyes. I don’t know how to describe it. I was just so surprised that when he popped back up, he was just back to normal again, instead of showing fear.”
It took both Sitarz and McNair to get the boy out of the water and reunite him with his father.
“I was able to hand him off to Braden, and he got him up to his dad. His dad just started crying. It was a good thing to see.”
The Village of Saint Anthony made a Facebook post showing a very soaked Sitarz in the aftermath of the rescue, still smiling about how things turned ended.
Both men emphasized the teamwork involved and thanked the woman who originally spotted the child.
“Any St. Francis firefighter or police officer would’ve done what we did. We just happened to be the ones who were there this time,” McNair remarked.
Ellie Wilson, the executive director of the Autism Society of Minnesota, stopped by the fire station Thursday to thank Sitarz and McNair for their efforts.
“Drowning and water-related injuries are the leading cause of death and injury among autistic children and adults,” Wilson explained.
“I know that story sometimes ends in another way. And to know they responded effectively and quickly and gave this story a happy ending meant I wanted to come thank them.”
Wilson said some people with autism like the pressure the water puts on their bodies, just as some like to sleep under weighted blankets.
The Autism Society convinced the legislature a few years ago to mandate police officers receive training on how to deal with people with autism. The organization also offers voluntary training for other first responders such as firefighters and EMTs.