San Bernardino

San Bernardino Officers Save a Mother and Children From Flood

San Bernardino police responded to a disturbance call and ended up saving a mother and her children from being washed away in a water rescue.

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Police body camera video of what started out as an investigation of a disturbance quickly turned into a swift water rescue.

San Bernardino police officer Gabriel Rodriguez was first on the scene at Waterman and 36th St.

Officers Tommy Tran and Jonathan Mason arrived as back up for an incident that was quickly overtaken by a flash flood.

"As I am debriefing them we notice the mother and her two children fall into the water and start washing away," Rodriguez said.

They were first ankle deep then knee deep and the water was moving fast enough to carry away a mother and her two children ages six to 14.

"The water level was rising and so the next thing we knew they were being taken away by the water," Mason said.

The trio of officers had to hold on to each other as they pulled the others to safety.

"So they held on to me as I tried to walk the family back to the other side of the road," Tran said.

The officers are now being called heroes. All three rookies with less than a year on the job.

"Never once in the academy did we train for a swift water rescue," Tran said.

A course that perhaps that now be added. For those who's job it is to protect and serve including when the waters fast and rising.

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