Streetsboro honors dispatcher, police officers and residents who saved girl from drowning
STREETSBORO – The city recognized the cooperation of residents and first responders who recently worked together to save a 10-year-old girl from drowning.
Mayor Glenn Broska presented lifesaving awards to dispatcher Haley Firtik, police officer Matthew Martinez and residents Chayce Baker, LaToya Stringer and her son Akelius Gates at a city council meeting. Broska praised them for their quick actions on June 25 when they saved the life of a 10-year-old girl.
The girl, Broska said, was swimming at a public pool in the 700 block of Frost Road, where she hung from the pool wall and did handstands underwater while her family was nearby.
“At some point she accidentally pushed herself off the edge she was holding on to and slipped quietly under the water, where she remained for 4.5 minutes,” Broska said.
Stringer said the girl’s mother tried to get her daughter out of the pool and when she was unable to get her attention, she asked Stringer’s 13-year-old son for help. The teen pulled the girl from the water, and she was unresponsive. The girl’s mother, Stringer and 16-year-old Chayce Baker performed CPR until Martinez arrived and took over. The girl began taking deep breaths.
Broska noted that CPR is taught and that “this situation just made a huge difference.”
Firtik received the 911 call at 7:43 p.m. and called the fire department and police simultaneously, which shortened Martinez’s response time. The fire department took her to the hospital and she was flown by helicopter to Akron Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she made a full recovery.
Broska said the five had “prevented a tragedy.”
“Because you acted appropriately and reacted quickly and knew what to do … Here we have a situation that had a very, very positive outcome,” Broska said. “So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”
The mother and child were present at the awards ceremony but were not identified or photographed for security reasons, said Police Chief Patricia Wain.
Wain noted that people assume drowning involves loud noise and splashing, but this is not usually the case.
“Most drowning accidents happen quickly and quietly,” she said.
Reach reporter Diane Smith at 330-298-1139 or [email protected].
