Harrowing body camera footage captured the moment emergency crews in Kansas desperately tried to rescue a toddler who had fallen down a narrow, deep PVC pipe in his backyard.
The 14-month-old boy named Bentley was playing in his front yard when he fell into the 10- to 12-foot-deep sump pump drain shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday, according to Moundridge police.
He was then trapped underground in the hole that was just a foot in diameter for more than 20 minutes as emergency medical crews tried to figure out how to get him out.
“It was very stressful and traumatic, honestly, and I felt like it was the longest 25 minutes of my life,” said the boy’s mother, Elizabeth. he told KAKE.
She said she had been watching her two children running in the front yard that afternoon and was nearby when Bentley walked over the cover into the drain.
Harrowing body camera footage captured emergency medical crews in Kansas desperately trying to save a 14-month-old boy who had fallen into a sump pump pit on Sunday.
Crews had to create a makeshift 16-foot-long catch pole using a smaller PVC pipe and rope from the local fire department to save the boy.
They had moved it a little bit out of the hole, Elizabeth said, and when Bentley stepped on it, it fell right in front of her eyes.
“When I stepped on it, it tipped over,” he said. “It fell so fast I couldn’t catch it.”
“I automatically started screaming and screaming.”
Those screams caught the attention of her husband, Blake, who was working on a car in the nearby driveway.
“My wife screamed that horrible scream,” he said.
‘I was with her when she gave birth to two babies and this is the scream you never want to hear because you know something treacherous has happened.’
He later told KWCH that He couldn’t imagine what his wife thought when she saw Bentley fall “because for all she knew, it was a sewer pipe, it was either full of water or it was 50 feet deep. She had no idea.”
The parents frantically called 911 and said officers arrived at their home within five minutes.
They later discovered that the boy landed on his feet.
The boy, named Bentley, was rescued from the narrow hole between 10 and 12 feet deep after more than 20 minutes.
The boy’s parents were nearby and tried to calm the 14-month-old.
At first, emergency medical teams tried to save the boy simply with a rope.
“The problem is that a 14-month-old child doesn’t respond very well to commands,” said Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Stucky.
‘The boy fought us and snatched the rope from our bodies, where it belonged.’
Rookie Officer Ronnie Wagner, who has only been with the department for a month, came up with the idea of fashioning a makeshift 16-foot-long capture pole out of a smaller PVC pipe and rope from the local fire department.
He then tied a circular loop at one end, threaded it through a tube, and passed it around the boy’s upper body.
They then managed to pull Bentley to safety and were seen placing the mud-covered boy back into his father’s hands.
If that hadn’t worked, Wagner said, “they would have had to start digging, bring in some equipment and start digging a really big hole in the front yard and dig it out, which would have taken a long time.”
His mother said he was playing outside when he stepped on the hole cover, which had moved a little bit from the hole.
Meanwhile, the child continued to cry and scream throughout the ordeal, while his parents could be heard trying to calm him down.
“We’ll get you out, Bentley, it’s okay,” said his father Blake, as he looked into the deep hole and held his other son’s hand.
“Mom’s here. We’re going to get you out of here. It’s okay,” Bentley’s mother, Elizabeth, said, holding back tears.
But, they said, they were actually horrified and stressed as officers tried to get their son to safety.
“It’s horrible,” Blake said. told KSNW. It’s heartbreaking to feel so helpless knowing your child is in dire need of help.
“I looked down at him and saw him screaming, wanting to get out of there, wanting help, but he couldn’t do anything. It was a complete helplessness.”
The family now says they are grateful to the first responders who saved their son.
“We think it’s a miracle that a baby can fall off something that’s five times its height and come out completely unharmed,” Blake said.
He and his wife say they now plan to bolt the cover down so no one can move it.
They said it was too heavy for a small child to move, but it must have been pushed while they were mowing the lawn.
Bentley’s parents, Elizabeth and Blake, called the ordeal horrifying and stressful.
They say they are now grateful to the emergency teams who saved their son.
The terrifying experience is reminiscent of when Jessica McClure fell 22 feet underground into a well in October 1987.
Her plight captivated a huge television audience as Baby Jessica sang about Winnie the Pooh.
Millions of people tuned in to the broadcast and prayed for her safety as they watched dozens of rescuers working day and night to save her from an abandoned well.
During the ordeal, kind onlookers also donated money to help the little girl recover.
Jessica has said in the past that she has little recollection of being trapped in the pipe or the 15 operations that followed her ordeal.
However, a scar is still visible from his hairline to the bridge of his nose where his head rubbed against the wall of the well.
Jessica also lost a toe to gangrene because her leg became trapped above her head in the underground well.