FRANKFORT — Today on Good Morning America, a family and their baby were reunited with the Frankfort police officers who rescued them from a burning home.
“Our baby was struggling to breathe so I’m very, very thankful that [the officers] got there to help her out of the window and help us too,” Elizabeth Crow said.
According to the Frankfort Police Department, three officers were the first to arrive to a house fire in the 800 block of Hawthorne Avenue on Monday around 2 a.m.
Through a window on the second floor, the family yelled down to officers that they were trapped upstairs due to fire and smoke. They also told the officers there was a baby inside.
“When I opened the door, I got hit in the face with smoke and saw fire, so panic set in right away. I shut the door, ran upstairs and got my family in the bedroom,” Jacob Neal said.
Body cam footage released by the police show Sergeant Andrew Snyder, Officer Freddy Martinez and Officer Madison Douglass scaling a ladder to a second story window to rescue the family.
“Please don’t drop her, please,” Neal said in the body cam footage, referring to the baby.
Snyder can be heard telling Neal that he’s “got her.”
“There was a baby in a car seat. They were holding the baby out of the window,” Martinez said. “We knew we had to act very quickly to rescue the family.”
The family and officers were featured on Good Morning America to reunite and tell their story.
.@ABC EXCLUSIVE: A family of six is thanking three Indiana officers for saving them from their burning home in an emotional reunion. @sramosABC reports. pic.twitter.com/XuWP8hDx8w
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 7, 2023
“At the end of the day, we were just doing our job. We’re all thankful we had the results that we did. I’m glad we could be there to help the family,” Martinez said.
All three were nominated and received the Medal of Valor for the service.
“I am very proud of these officers for their quick, heroic actions,” Frankfort Police Chief Scott Shoemaker said. “They will be honored by the police department at a later date.”
The exact cause of fire is still unknown. Authorities are continuing to investigate.
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