Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood climbed a tall fence and rescued Serafina, a two-year-old girl trapped inside an Ocoee community pool area after a gate shut and locked behind her. He was off duty and riding his bike in the area when he heard screams and moved toward the pool.
The child’s mother was on the other side of the fence and could not reach her daughter. Chitwood said he was riding back from a 40-miler when he heard “horrific screams,” and he feared he was heading toward a drowning.
Serafina and the locked gate
911 dispatch audio captures the mother calling for Serafina to come back from the pool area. She said, “She was just like standing there. And so the gate was unlocked, so she walked in the pool area. Serafina, come to mommy. Come to mommy, please. Don’t go to the pool!”
She also pleaded, “Serafina, come to mommy… please listen to mommy,” as the child remained inside the fenced area. The mother said the gate was unlocked before it shut and locked behind the toddler, creating the barrier that kept the child away from her.
Mike Chitwood and the fence
Chitwood said he pulled up expecting to see “a baby face down in the water, and nobody could get to the baby.” Instead, he used his bike as a ladder to get over the fence. He said, “There’s only one way my butt’s getting over that fence, and that was to use my bike as a ladder because the fence is really high,” and added that one section had metal shards meant to keep people out.
After crossing, he said he worried about startling the child. “And then once I was able to get over the fence, then I kept thinking to myself, please don’t run, right? You got a guy in a bicycle helmet, gloves, big nose, and mustache. You’re gonna scare this kid, and that kid’s gonna dive into the pool and make it even worse.” Chitwood then got to Serafina and safely returned her to her mother’s arms unharmed.
Volusia County 911 audio
The account comes from 911 dispatch audio and Chitwood’s comments about the rescue. He said, “But to listen to that 911 call... those eight minutes, I mean, even I teared up listening to it because you could just, those screams, the shrill at the top of her lungs screaming. And, you know, I was just in the right place at the right time.”
He also said, “Thank God that everything worked out,” after the rescue. The unresolved piece is how the gate became unlocked and then locked behind Serafina, which the account does not explain.
