OKC Officers Who Rescued Toddler From Fire, 'We Just Knew We Had To Catch Him'

Two Oklahoma City police officers are being praised for their heroic acts in saving a toddler thrown from a second-floor window of an apartment during a blaze.

Early Thursday morning, emergency crews responded to a second-alarm fire at Brownstone Apartments, located at N.W. 28th and May in Oklahoma City.

Two police officers, Officer Anthony Glover and Sergeant Dave Hollis, spoke during a news conference Friday morning, and said they were among the first officers to arrive on scene. They said when they got on scene, the front of the apartment building was engulfed in smoke and flames.  

The officers said they heard people screaming and saw some residents who have made it out safely. They started beating on the doors to make sure everyone was out.  However, the front of building was covered with thick smoke. So they went to the back to help people out.

When the officers went to the back of the building, they saw Takia Harding and her 2-year-old son Tyree trapped inside their second-floor apartment, screaming for help. 

“Initially we didn’t see the baby. We saw them [the residents] and got on the radio and started to tell dispatch to let firefighters know as soon as they get there, bring some ladders to the back,” said Sgt. Hollis. “When we started talking to them, we heard yelling, ‘We are going to jump!’ I said, ‘Don’t jump. Firetrucks are around the corner. We will get you a ladder.’”

That’s when Sgt. Hollis said Harding yelled for them to catch her baby. Sgt. Hollis ripped down the fence with his hands while Officer Glover ran to get closer to the building.

“Before we could answer, she held the baby out of the window. We said, ‘Hang on.’ So we moved up there closer, and she said, ‘Catch my baby.’ We got there and said, ‘OK, let go. We got him.’ She dropped them down and we caught him,” Hollis said.

The child landed safely into Officer Glover's arms. He was not injured. 

“We just knew we had to catch him. He was very calm,” said Officer Glover. “I even asked him his name. We brought him around, trying to find his mom. I tried to calm him down, but he was already calm.”    

The officers said they normally don’t have to train for situations like building fires. But they did what they could to help the residents escape.

“We signed up to help people, to serve the public. When they are in trouble, we do whatever we could do to help them out,” Hollis said.

Officer Glover said they are glad all the residents made it out OK, and he is thankful Harding trusted them with her child.

“It could have ended very badly. But it ended on a good note. We all went home happy,” Glover said.

Sgt. Hollis has been with the Oklahoma City police department for 14 and a half years, and Officer Glover has been with the department for about two years.

The fire has been ruled accidental, as it started due to residents using candles for their light source. In total, eight units were affected by the fire, and 37 residents had to be relocated.