MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — There was a moving reunion at the Macomb County Sheriff's Office Thursday as two parents who nearly lost their 2-year-old daughter in early June met the first responders who saved her life for the first time.
On Saturday, deputies were called to a home in Macomb Township for a 2-year-old who was unresponsive.
Hanan Lateef told 7 Action News she was in another room changing bed sheets and toddler Mira was in the kitchen.
She can usually hear Mira's every movement from the room and Mira never goes outside alone. However when she went to check on Mira, she wasn't there.
After searching frantically, she found her face down in their above-ground family pool in their back yard.
Two-year-old Mira had gone outside quietly, closed the door, climbed the pool ladder and went in the pool.
Lateef was shocked.
"I open the side door and I see her pajamas just float in the water. I run, pick her up and her face was blue and there’s something going out of her mouth and there’s no heart beat. Nothing, nothing," she said.
Lateef thought Mira was dead.
The rest is a blur to her. Her husband Saif came running. She called 911.
The audio of the call is in the video player above. You can hear the panic in Hanan Lateef's voice.
Saif Lateef began CPR on his daughter who was not breathing.
"I think I closed her nose and blew in her mouth and then water came out and then her heart started beating," Saif Lateef. "And my son yelled, ’She’s alive, she’s alive.'"
Macomb County Sheriff's Office deputies were in the house within minutes, they took over for Saif Lateef, revived Mira and got her to the hospital.
The dramatic body camera footage in the video player above is heartbreaking to watching. A mere matter of seconds saved Mira's life.
Talking about how quick the deputies response was, Saif Lateef said, "I think it was like right outside, right by my car. That’s how quick it was."
The leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1 to 4 is drowning. They can drown within 30 seconds, and every minute without resuscitation makes a difference in if they will survive.
Hanan and Saif Lateef say the deputies' response time saved their toddler. It's forever changed the way that they see law enforcement and life.
Thursday, they gave the deputies flowers and a heartfelt thanks at their reunion.
"There’s no word to explain how much I’m thankful to them that I have my daughter back," Saif Lateef said.
Jon Potocki, a Macomb County sherriff's deputy who helped save Mira said, "It’s the best things in the world. It’s what we. I don’t want to sound cliche but what we signed up to do."
When asked if she see's life differently now, Hanan Lateef said, "Yes, I learned a lot. Our family is like a miracle. It’s a sign from God."
