A missing-child call near Carencro turned into a water rescue on Sept. 6 when Cpl. Jared Havard of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office waded neck-deep into a pond, fully dressed in his duty gear, to pull an 8-year-old nonspeaking girl with autism to safety. Bystanders on the bank had just watched the child go underwater when deputies arrived.
Deputies were dispatched to the 200 block of Blushing Groom Drive in unincorporated Carencro after a report that the girl was missing, according to The Advertiser. While deputies were still en route, they learned the child had been spotted entering a nearby pond. By the time officers reached the scene, bystanders were standing on the bank watching her slip beneath the surface.
Havard did not stop to remove his equipment. He went straight into the water in full duty attire until he was submerged up to his neck, reaching the girl and bringing her back to the bank, the newspaper reported. She was reunited with her family at the scene, according to the same account. KETV reported that officials said no injuries resulted from the incident.
Body Camera Footage Released Weeks Later
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office released body-camera video of the rescue more than a month after it happened, and the office credited Havard's quick response for keeping the incident from turning tragic, per the Acadiana News First account of the footage. The video shows the deputy moving into the water without hesitation toward the spot where the child had gone under.
The case echoes a similar rescue in Florida, where Homestead Police Officer Carston Addison pulled a 12-year-old boy with autism from a pond behind the boy's home on Aug. 2, 2026. According to CBS News, Addison recognized the child was in distress, stripped off his gear, and jumped in to bring him to shore. Homestead Police Chief Mario Knapp later presented Addison with a life-saving award for the rescue, the outlet reported, noting that Addison had been an officer for less than a year at the time.
Why Water Poses Special Risk for Autistic Children
Wandering, sometimes called elopement, is a recognized danger for children with autism spectrum disorder. A survey of parents cited by the CDC found that about half of children and youth with ASD were reported to wander, and among those, 1 in 4 were missing long enough to cause concern, most commonly facing danger from drowning or traffic. Separately, the CDC has stated that drowning is the leading cause of death following wandering and elopement incidents among autistic individuals.
The federal government has also studied the broader pattern of missing children on the spectrum. The Office of Justice Programs describes an analysis of cases in which children on the autism spectrum were reported missing to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, according to OJP.gov. Neither the Carencro nor the Homestead case is part of that federal dataset, but both rescues reflect the same risks the research describes.
In Carencro, the outcome was a reunion rather than a tragedy. The girl was brought back to the bank and reunited with her family, and officials said she was not injured, closing out a call that began with a frantic search and ended with a deputy soaked to the neck on the edge of a pond.
