A QUICK-thinking South Yorkshire police officer has been hailed a hero after rescuing a toddler from drowning on holiday.<\/p>\n
PC Dan Radford, aged 37, had been relaxing in the pool in Kos, Greece, when he spotted a small boy \u2018swimming strangely\u2019 last month.<\/p>\n
When he spotted that the boy had stopped moving he \u201cwent into autopilot\u201d he said, and his police training kicked in.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI pulled this little lad out of the water and onto the pool side. His face was blue and he wasn\u2019t moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought to myself \u2018I\u2019ll be doing CPR at the side of the pool in a minute\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
First he held the boy upright and gently squeezed his chest.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe water shot out of his mouth like a hosepipe, it was obvious he had swallowed a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen a second later, the lad started crying, which is a good sign. If he had been left a moment longer he would have died.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy\u2019s parents quickly came over to thank Dan, who said: \u201cHis dad was completely frozen. He hugged me, started crying and said \u2018I owe you my life \u2013 you have saved my son\u2019s life\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young lad had been wearing an inflatable life jacket. But after lunch he had taken it off and jumped back in the pool without realising.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis parent\u2019s backs had been turned for less than a minute and there were around 40 people about. It just goes to show how easy things like this can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy \u2013 who turned out to be just three years old \u2013 was taken to hospital where he stayed overnight. He has since made a full recovery, according to the story from the Star Newspaper.<\/p>\n
Dan, was on holiday at the time with wife Louise, a detective constable with South Yorkshire Police, and his two sons.<\/p>\n
#GreatWork Dan. It just goes to show police officers are #NeverOffDuty.<\/p>\n
Photo from The Star<\/p>\n