LDWF agent assists in saving 3-year-old boy found face down in swimming pool

Incident happened near Amite River Diversion Canal in Livingston Parish on May 10

An enforcement agent with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enjoyed a Mother’s Day he won’t soon forget on Sunday.

According to a press release, Lt. Louis Burnett and Senior Agent Michael Marques Jr. were on vessel patrol about 5 p.m. on the Amite River Diversion Canal when they were flagged down by a woman on a dock near her residence on Home Port Road.

She told them a 3-year-old boy had been found face down in her pool minutes before, the release states.

Marques ran and found the child on the ground next to the pool not breathing, but he detected a heartbeat. According to the release, Marques performed a head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver that prompted the child to begin breathing.

Burnett radiod for paramedics, and volunteers with the Fifth Ward Fire Department arrived shortly and provided oxygen for the child. The boy was ultimately airlifted to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, and was admitted into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

The child is expected to make a full recovery, the release states.

“Everybody involved did a great job to keep this child alive,” said Col. Joey Broussard, head of the LDWF Enforcement Division.  “Senior Agent Marques’ efforts were heroic, and the fact he acted so quickly probably saved the child’s life.”

An adult there said he turned his back briefly on the child to gather some fishing poles, and when he finished he found the boy face down in the pool. The adult performed CPR on the child before Marques arrived at the pool, the release states.