I have seen enough to know I have seen too much

Yesterday I arrived at a story just in time to see a firefighter running with an unconscious three year old boy in arms. He pulled him out of a neighbors pool, put him in an ambulance and sped off to the hospital where the toddler died.

Watch the Story Here.

We heard about a search for the boy on the scanners. Didn't think much about it (unfortunately there are calls for missing children too often) until they called out the helicopter. When photographer Jon and I arrived police, firefighters and neighbors were looking everywhere. As Jon searched for a parking spot I noticed the EMT's running for their bags in the ambulance. Jon pulled up and I turned around to see the little boy limp and white in the firefighters arms.

Jon parked the car and got out to get video of the ambulance pulling away. I started talking with neighbors as police put up yellow tape around the yard. I went up to an officer who usually works accident reconstruction scenes. I said it's not good and he started to lose it. He said I can handle any accident, but this is just too much.

It was too much for all of us. As we continued to get our work done we all needed a minute to absorb what we just witnessed.

The three year was staying with is grandparents. He wandered away from the home and after looking for 15 minutes the family called police. The search was so intense, not only because he was so young, but he had some special needs too.

So many times they turn out well. Just a few days ago there was a search for an even younger child that ended well. This one didn't. It makes you wonder, what benefit there is reporting the story. I guess if it reminds parents to keep a closer eye on their children, that's about all the good that can come from it.

It made me glad we showed up just a minute too late. If we had been there we would have had that video of the boy. Though from a news perspective you want the best video and during most days I would have been annoyed we weren't rolling, but after seeing it myself, I didn't want to even have to discuss whether we should put video of a dead toddler on the news.