By Justin Trombly
Tampa Bay Times
PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Two Pasco County Sheriff’s Office deputies rescued a bedridden woman from a burning room Thursday morning, sending one of them to a hospital with smoke inhalation.
The incident was captured on body cameras the two men wore.
Deputy Justin Ball and Cpl. Jeffrey Brown responded to the home in the 6600 block of Carnation Way in Port Richey about 4:44 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office said.
They entered the house as smoke began spreading to find Theresa Mitcka, 74. She pointed them to a room where flames were growing and where her 97-year-old mother Maria Logan was confined to her bed.
Ball briefly tried to beat down the flames with a pillow as he spoke comforting words to Logan. Then he decided they needed to get to safety, so he took her in his arms and carried her out.
“Watch out, watch out, watch out,” he said, as he reached the front door and handed her off to paramedics outside.
“You okay ma’am?” he asked before doubling over and coughing off and on for several minutes. Asked if he needed help, he replied, “oxygen,” before he was taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point by Pasco County Fire Rescue.
Meantime, Brown put out the flames with an extinguisher. In footage from his body camera, he coughs through the smoke as he sprays the fire down.