A mother is praising a Florida sheriff’s deputywho saved the life of her 6-month-old daughter, sharing that he’s now an honorary member of the family.
Then Musgrove noticed a cloud of smoke in front of him in the median area of Regina Dr., per authorities. When he got closer, he realized that the speeding motorcycle that passed him had collided with another vehicle at the intersection.
“I saw the pile of rubble, but I didn’t see the motorcyclist," Musgrove tells PEOPLE. “Then I heard screaming…and I saw the motorcyclist impaled into the vehicle to my left.”
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Dave Musgrove saved Kayleigh Foley’s six-month-old child Lola in a deadly road accident in February 2024.Kayleigh Foley
Kayleigh Foley
“I stopped at the stop sign, and that was right in front of the intersection,” she tells PEOPLE. “So I didn’t see anyone coming.”
“As I’m almost to the intersection, I turn to my left and see the bike and a bright light," she recalls. “And then I just remember the impact and my whole body aching.”
Realizing they weren’t alone, Foley and her family did what they could to get help.
“Ariel, my oldest [was] screaming,” Foley says. “I was honking my horn to let him know that I was alive, that we were in here to come for help.““When [the motorcyclist] initially crashed into us, I didn’t realize that he was in the car until I turned around trying to look for Lola and I see a head and blood,” she adds. “That’s when I realized that he was on top of her.”
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Dave Musgrove saved Kayleigh Foley’s six-month-old child Lola in a road accident in February 2024.Kayleigh Foley
Afterward, the deputy administered CPR on Lola. “I take her over to the median, get her out of the car seat, and I start doing chest compressions,” Musgrove says. “Shortly after I started doing chest compressions, I heard a breath. It wasn’t a steady breath, but it was something. Shortly after that first breath, EMS arrived and they took over.”
Fortunately, emergency responders detected a pulse in Lola. As all of this was happening, Foley was thinking about her fiancé, who had passed away only six months earlier. “This can’t be real,” she recalls thinking. “I can’t lose another person.’”
Foley tells PEOPLE that Lola, who was in the hospital for two and a half weeks after the crash, is doing well now and acting like her normal self.
However, there are still challenges ahead for the little girl, who sustained three skull fractures and a traumatic brain injury. “We’re just trying to be positive and everything,” says Foley.
AGoFundMewas established to help the family pay for medical expenses. As of Monday afternoon, it has raised over $77,000.
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Musgrove’s heroics have also earned praise from Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell.
Musgrove tells PEOPLE that the attention towards him since the accident has been overwhelming,
“My personal Facebook blew up from people I’ve never even met before,” he says. “I am proud that I did something right and that she’s here.”
A bond has now developed between the hero deputy and the family.
“I’m forever grateful for him. My children call him Uncle Dave,” Foley says. “He’s our family now.”
“There’s no words…He’s just an amazing person,” she adds. “I’m just so grateful for him forever.”
source: people.com
