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Saif Lateef hugs Macomb County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jonathan Potocki, one of the first responders who helped save the life of his daughter, Mira, on June 3.
Photo by Dean Vaglia
Mira Lateef waves to the audience during a reunion with first responders at the Macomb County Jail on June 8. Mira was rescued by Macomb County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Macomb Township Fire Department personnel after nearly drowning in an above-ground pool at home on June 3.
Photo by Dean Vaglia
MOUNT CLEMENS — Tragedy turned to triumph for one Macomb Township family after fast action from Macomb County Sheriff’s deputies, Macomb Township firefighters and hospital staff saved 2-year-old Mira Lateef from drowning in an above-ground pool.
It all began on the morning of June 3. Saif and Hanan, Mira’s father and mother, were going about their morning when Hanan noticed something was off.
“She was eating peacefully and watching cartoons, and one or two minutes after that, I get this feeling there’s something wrong,” Hanan said.
It was too quiet around the house and, after what seemed like less than a minute of searching, Hanan found Mira floating in the backyard pool.
“She was blue, no heartbeat, something white coming out from her mouth,” Hanan said, recounting Mira’s condition upon retrieving her from the pool.
Hanan called for Saif and called 911 for the first time in her life. After getting on the call with Macomb County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Lindsey McCord, officers were on the scene at the Lateef residence within five minutes and were soon joined by Macomb Township Fire Department personnel. At that time, Saif performed CPR on Mira while receiving instructions from McCord.
“It’s not even two or three words before I start seeing all the police officers around me, and I really can’t handle it at this point,” Saif said. “A couple seconds ago, I feel Mira, she’s still alive and has a heart (that’s) still beating, and at that minute I could not do anything any further, and I just see the police arrive from everywhere. They come from my back, from the garage, from all the doors, and right next second, I couldn’t really do anything.”
Medical responders rushed Mira to Henry Ford Hospital Macomb in Clinton Township before airlifting her to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where she was given pediatric trauma care. It took about an hour before Mira was off oxygen assistance, and within 24 hours, she made a full recovery.
“Twenty-four hours later, it was like nothing happened,” Saif said. “It was the worst 24 hours in my life that I ever experienced, but Mira, she’s here. Every time I look at her face, every time I hear her voice or I hear her call my name, it takes that pain out.”
The Lateef family was reunited with McCord and responding deputies Mitchell Blount and Jonathan Potocki and Macomb County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chuck Medley at the Macomb County Jail on June 8. Due to commitments, Macomb Township firefighters Jason Krozek, Robert Huck, Ryan Randlett and Bernie Wouters were unable to make it, represented instead by Chief Robert Phillips of the Macomb Township Fire Department.
“They performed exactly as I would expect them to, as anyone would expect them to,” Phillips said of the firefighters. “Not only that, they went above and beyond. It certainly wasn’t an easy scene whatsoever. … They did exactly what needed to be done; what they do every single day when they respond to a call.”
Deputies Blount and Potocki were given flowers by Saif, who thanked them for the quick response.
“You don’t really think about (the rescue) until after the fact,” Potocki said. “What we go through in training and things like that, we just react and we went with it. It didn’t hit us all until after the fact that we thought about what could’ve been the outcome. We’re both parents (Potocki and Blount), so it hit home that day.”
For Blount, calls like this one are what being a deputy is all about.
“That’s what this is all about is being there for the community, and that’s what we’re working for,” Blount said. “Just to see little Mira smile is worth it.”
According to Saif, this was the second time he has used CPR to help save a child’s life since emigrating from Iraq to the United States. In 2009, a friend’s son began to drown in a river when Saif jumped in, pulled him ashore and rescued him by providing CPR until help could arrive.
The American Red Cross has a CPR/automated external defibrillator class finder on its website at redcross.org. CPR/AED certification requires taking a class and is renewed by taking a class at least every two years.
