{"id":367873,"date":"2026-08-10T23:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367873\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T23:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:12:09","slug":"good-samaritans-rescue-autistic-child-from-retention-pond-in-port-st-lucie-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367873\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Samaritans rescue autistic child from retention pond in Port St. Lucie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12)  \u2014 An autistic child, covered in fire ants, was saved by a group of Port St. Lucie residents after he tried wandering into a retention pond on Saturday morning. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pslpolice.com\/Home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Port St. Lucie Police Department<\/a> says a group of Port St. Lucie residents were on their way to grab coffee when they noticed a child wandering alone near a retention pond. <\/p>\n<p>Feeling that something was off, the group of Good Samaritans stopped to help. PSLPD says the group tried to guide the child to safety, but when he tried to enter the pond, they followed him into the water and dragged him to safety. <\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/florida-governor-desantis-says-florida-will-begin-testing-air-taxis-in-central-florida-by-end-of-2026-evtols-suntrax-vertical-takeoff-landing-aircraft-interstate-4-corridor-vertiports-tampa-orlando-safety-congestion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DeSantis says Florida will begin testing air taxis in Central Florida by year&#8217;s end<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The group of PSL residents immediately called 911 and stayed with him until officers arrived. <\/p>\n<p>Body camera video shared by the Port St. Lucie Police Department shows deputies talking to the residents who rescued the child. Video continues to show deputies wiping the fire ants off the weeping child. <\/p>\n<p>PSLPD warns residents that if they see someone who could be in danger, they are advised to follow their instincts <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 An autistic child, covered in fire ants, was saved by a group&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-367873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}