Breathtaking body camera footage captured the moment emergency responders in Kansas desperately tried to save a toddler who had fallen into a deep, narrow PVC pipe in his yard.
The 14-month-old boy, Bentley, was playing in his front yard when he fell into a 10- to 12-foot-deep sump pump drain around 2 p.m. Sunday, Moundridge police said.
He was then trapped in the hole, which is just a foot in diameter, for more than 20 minutes as emergency services tried to figure out how to get him out.
“It was really stressful and traumatic, and it felt like the longest 25 minutes of my life,” said the boy’s mother, Elizabeth. said KAKE.
The near-tragedy was eerily reminiscent of the rescue of Jessica McClure, better known as “Baby Jessica,” which garnered worldwide attention after the 18-month-old baby became trapped in a well in Midland, Texas.
Heartbreaking body camera footage captured paramedics in Kansas desperately trying to save a 14-month-old boy who fell into a sump pump hole on Sunday
Crews had to fashion a makeshift 16-foot-long catch pole from smaller PVC pipe and rope provided by the local fire department to rescue the boy
Bentley’s mother explained that she had seen her two children running around in the front yard that afternoon and that she was nearby when Bentley walked over the cover toward the drain.
Elizabeth said it moved a little bit from the hole and when Bentley stepped on it, it fell right before her eyes.
“When he stepped on it, it tipped over,” she said. “He fell so fast, I couldn’t grab him.”
‘I automatically started screaming and shouting.’
Her screams caught the attention of her husband Blake, who was working on a car in the driveway further away.
“My wife screamed that horrible scream,” he said.
“I was with her when he delivered two babies and this is the scream you never want to hear because you know something dangerous has happened.”
He later told KWCH that he couldn’t imagine what his wife was thinking when she saw Bentley fall ‘because for all she knew it was a sewer line, it was full of water, or it was 50 feet deep. She had no idea.’
The parents called 911 in panic and said the officers would be at their home within five minutes.
Then they saw the boy land upright on his feet.
The boy, named Bentley, was rescued from the narrow 3 to 3.5 meter deep hole after more than 20 minutes
The boy’s parents stood nearby and tried to reassure the 14-month-old boy
Initially, emergency services tried to rescue the boy with only a rope.
“The problem is a 14-month-old child doesn’t handle commands very well,” said Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Stucky.
‘The child resisted and tore the rope from his body, where it belonged.’
Firefighter Ronnie Wagner, who has only been with the fire department for a month, came up with the idea to make a makeshift 16-foot catch pole from a smaller PVC pipe and rope from the local fire department.
He then tied a lasso to one end, lowered it, and fished it around the boy’s torso.
They were then able to pull Bentley to safety and we saw him place the mud-covered child back into his father’s hands.
If that hadn’t worked, Wagner said, “they would have had to start digging, bring some equipment and dig a very large hole in the front yard to dig him out, which would have taken a long time.”
His mother said he was playing outside when he stepped on the hole cover – which had slid a little way off the hole
Meanwhile, the boy continued to cry and scream throughout the ordeal as his parents tried to reassure him.
“We’re going to get you out, Bentley, it’s going to be okay,” his father Blake said, as he looked into the deep hole with his other son.
“Mom’s here. We’re going to get you out. It’s okay,” Bentley’s mother, Elizabeth, said, holding back tears.
But they said they were actually shocked and stressed as officers tried to get their son to safety.
“It’s horrible,” Blake told KSNW. It’s awful to feel so helpless knowing that your child desperately needs help.
“When I looked at him, he was screaming, he wanted to get out of there, he wanted help, and there’s nothing you can do. It’s just complete helplessness.”
The family now says they are grateful to the emergency workers who saved their son.
We believe it is a miracle that a baby can just fall [into] “Something five times his length and coming away completely unscathed,” Blake said.
He and his wife say they now plan to screw the lid down so no one can move it.
They said it was too heavy for a toddler to move, but it must have been pushed while mowing the lawn.
Bentley’s parents, Elizabeth and Blake, called the ordeal horrific and stressful
They say they are now grateful to the emergency services who saved their son
This terrifying experience is reminiscent of the harrowing incident when Jessica McClure fell 20 feet underground into a well in October 1987.
Her plight captivated an immense television audience when Baby Jessica sang about Winnie the Pooh.
Millions of people watched and prayed for her safety as they saw dozens of rescuers work day and night to rescue her from an abandoned well.
During this ordeal, kind viewers also donated money to help the little girl recover.
Jessica has stated in the past that she has little memory of the moment she was stuck in the pipe, or of the 15 surgeries that followed her ordeal.
A scar is still visible, from her hairline to the bridge of her nose, where her head scraped against the wall of the well.
Jessica also lost a toe to gangrene, as one of her legs was trapped above her head in the underground shaft.
