WATCH ABOVE: Police officer’s body camera rolls as he rescues 3-year-old from burning home. Matt Pearl reports.
A Georgia police officer’s body camera captured the dramatic rescue of a three-year-old toddler while he lay asleep in his bed.
Sgt. Joe Hudson was the first to respond to a call at a Griffin, Georgia, home just over a week ago. Released footage captured by the body camera Hudson wore shows an elderly woman exiting the residence as he arrived.
“She told me her grandbaby was in the back bedroom,” Hudson told WGCL.
Hudson said he had never run into a fire before. The footage shows him dashing inside to find the boy.
“I was looking everywhere and couldn’t find him,” Hudson said in an NBC report. “Smoke was starting to get to me, so I grabbed some clothes off her bed and put ’em to my face.”
At that point local fire officials had yet to arrive and the flames were growing higher, the smoke growing thicker.
“Dispatch, tell fire to hurry. I’m looking for a baby,” Hudson can be heard saying in the video.
Eventually, the officer made his way to the rear of the home.
“I could see, until I got to that back bedroom where it was really thick, almost impossible to breathe. I was struggling to breathe,” Hudson explained. “I opened the door and saw him. I grabbed him. He didn’t have a chance to say anything. He wanted to know where his mother was.”
Footage shows Hudson racing out of the home and trying to talk to the toddler as they both catch their breath. Hudson introduced himself after the three-year-old identified himself as Ray-Ray.
Considered a hero for his effort, Hudson has remained humble despite the attention.
“I did what I get paid to do,” he said. “I’m supposed to do what others might not, so that’s what I did. I earned my paycheck.”
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