Toddler Rescued by Officer

By Sue Ellen Woodcock

The Department of Children and Families, along with the Winthrop police, are investigating how a 3-year-old girl wandered from her nearby home to Winthrop Beach where she fell in and was saved from drowning by a Winthrop police officer.

Officer James Freeman, who has been with the Winthrop Police Department for 15 years, was working a detail on Winthrop Shore Drive near Dolphin Avenue when one of the workers alerted him to the little girl walking alone at the water’s edge with her dog. At 10:31 a.m. Freeman radioed for assistance.

Freeman was a little cautious at first since the girl was with a protective pit bull. As he approached the girl followed the dog into the water. She fell over before going further into the water. Freeman jumped in and pulled her to safety. She was taken to a nearby home of good Samaritans to dry off and determine where she came from. The girl’s mother was located at a house on a nearby street. Police said the girl exited her hem from an open door while the mother was sleeping. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital as a precaution. The mother was also taken to a hospital after suffering from distress.