An MCSO deputy is going far beyond the badge, helping a Valley family raise money after a young boy was pulled from a backyard pool.
Christian Kaufman, 22, became an MCSO deputy last year. He responded to a call of a near-drowning on Saturday near Hunt Highway and Sossaman Road. According to authorities, a three-year-old boy was pulled from a neighbor's pool after either climbing over or underneath a fence.
"It affected me in a different way, just seeing this little boy be given and administered CPR, just seeing his condition, it was like nothing I'd ever seen in my entire life," Kaufman said.
Kaufman told ABC15 he was directed to head to the hospital to be with the family. Little did he know how much this call would change his life.
"The biggest time was when the father was led into this trauma room and I turned around and saw this dad standing over his lifeless son," he said.
Kaufman took part in a prayer, placing his hand on the child's head.
"When I felt this little boy's hair in my hand's, it completely changed me," Kaufman said. "My heart just broke."
Unable to forget what happened, Kaufman approached the family two days later. With their permission, he set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the family.
"This is our job and our career but at the end of the day we strip down out of (our uniform) and go into normal city clothes and we have a heart and it's really why we do the job," Kaufman said.
According to MCSO officials, the child is in critical condition. While it remains under investigation, MCSO told ABC15 this appears to be a tragic accident and not a crime. They also said there were adults on the large property where the child lived, looking for the boy, who was in the neighbor's pool.
