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Police Camera Captures Intense Moment Missing 2-Yr-Old Is Found Alive in Woods

By Amanda Thomason June 28, 2018 at 1:59pm

Tuesday evening, 2-year-old Kamiyah Vicks and her mother were out for a stroll around a neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia.

What happened between then and the next morning is unclear. Police received a call from young Vicks’ mother, who was distressed and reported her daughter missing as of 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Police later found the mother’s shoes and the stroller Kamiyah had been in. They’d been abandoned alongside a lake.

But there was no sign of the 2-year-old. At around 10:30 a.m. a search started for Kamiyah. Almost everyone who could showed up, including police, firemen, search and rescue teams, state patrolmen, and a variety of volunteers.

They set off by foot, boat, and air, knowing that time was crucial and they needed to locate the child fast to improve her chances of survival.

“It makes it easier when you work together. You can cover a lot more ground.” Police Chief Matt Libby said. “We had a lot of people on the ground out here today doing searches, and that was helpful. Then, we brought the horses in. Every tool we were able to get, we got.”

Even the cadets were brought in. They were taken out of a class they were attending and pitched in to help find the child — and good thing, too, because they’re the ones who ended up finding her.

Luis Esquina was one of the three cadets who discovered the child huddled against a tree. His body cam caught the whole thing, and the resulting video has since gone viral.

“It was a relief,” he said. “It’s a 2-year-old baby, so I thank God every single day that he’s able to bless us and help us to get to where we’re at. I thank God he was there on our side today.”

Another cadet, Robert Parker, also helped bring the girl back to civilization.

“My reaction is relief because these things don’t always end up this way. The child screamed because she heard us, I’m sure,” he said.

“She’d been out there for quite a while, but, you know, open arms, ready to go,” Parker continued. “She was thirsty. She was tired and she was hot. So we got her the proper medical treatment and hopefully get her back reunited with her family.”

Fortunately she was found after about two hours of searching. Other than some superficial abrasions, Kamiyah seems to be doing well. It’s unclear exactly how the events leading to her getting lost in the woods transpired, but police are continuing to look into the matter and are making sure Kamiyah is safe.

“By the grace of God, this child was located and she is fine, on the way to the hospital now to be checked out,” Libby said. “We notified the family… Some minor scrapes, of course dehydration is probably going to be a concern, but she appears to be in good spirits and well.”

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