By Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Working 36 years as a telecommunicator in the Plant City Police Department, B.J. Forte has answered a wide array of emergency calls, but Sept. 14 was the first time she answered a drowning call.
Forte received the call at about 4:41 p.m. from a frantic mother, Tiffany Davis. Her 2-year-old son, Eric Runda, had fallen into the family’s pool and wasn’t breathing.
“You never know what kind of call you’re going to get, but you always have to be prepared,” Forte said.
Forte dispatched members of the police and fire departments to the scene and then remained on the phone with Davis and instructed her on how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Runda. When the breaths didn’t work, Forte told Davis to transition to chest compressions, counting along with Davis and acting as a reassuring force.
When members of the Plant City Fire Rescue arrived, they took over CPR and rushed Runda to the South Florida Baptist Hospital. At the hospital, his blood pressure returned to normal levels.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Forte’s actions saved that boy’s life,” Capt. Vincent Probst, who responded to the accident, said.
Forte was nominated for the Plant City Police Department’s Life Saving Medal on Sept. 17. Chief Bill McDaniel approved the nomination and presented Forte with the medal Sept. 20.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal, but everyone thinks it is,” Forte said. “I give credit to the mother because she was willing to listen and apply what I was telling her to save her little child. I would love to meet him.”
Police officer Paul Tester also received the department’s Life-Saving Medal. On July 27, he responded to a traffic crash at the intersection of Park Road and Jim Johnson Road. The first on scene, Tester determined one of the involved drivers had sustained a life-threatening injury to her brachial artery. He applied the appropriate first aid and was subsequently able to stop the bleeding.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.