Parents of rescued child in Indian River grateful for 'miracle'
Somewhere, in a half-floating, half-sunken rescue scene in the Indian River Lagoon on Friday night, the sound of a crying child cut through the chaos.
A mother, father and infant had already been rescued from their capsized powerboat, which hit a supporting guy wire near the Hubert H. Humphrey Bridge, rapidly filled with water and capsized around 11 p.m.
Against tall odds, the couple’s 23-month-old girl was still under the hull, floating with her life jacket in a pocket of trapped air.
Rescued by Officer Matthew Rush of the Cocoa police, Kennedy Bossard was reunited with her family nearly an hour after the crash.
On Monday, little Kennedy giggled as she played on the floor of her home, surrounded by toys and unaffected by camera-toting visitors. The only sign of Kennedy’s ordeal: a scratch under her eye.
“It’s a miracle,” said Brian Bossard, Kennedy’s father. “That’s the only way to explain it. The officers said nine times out of 10 in a situation like this does not end well. Most of the times, everybody dies. Maybe God was looking over us, or we just got lucky.”
Tammy Bossard and 7-month-old Charlotte are also fine. Tammy said the relief that she feels when she sees her daughters’ faces today is indescribable.
“It’s hard to find a word that means the relief that you feel,” she said.
The family had been returning from dinner at Grills Riverside Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar near Pineda Causeway and was motoring north along the Indian River when the incident took place.
Tammy Bossard said she was asleep with daughter Charlotte in her arms and woke up in the water, tossed overboard as the hull rolled over.
“I woke up in the water holding Charlotte, and I woke up right next to the boat, and I saw a hole in the side of the boat and climbed on top and shoved Charlotte up there,” she said.
Soon after, her husband also climbed on top of the boat at which point they began hearing Kennedy crying underneath the boat.
Cocoa police officers reflect on amazing river rescue
With a sheriff’s helicopter overhead and rescue teams swarming the Cocoa shoreline and nearby waterways, there was little time for reflection.
“Usually incidents like this don’t turn out like that,’’ Rush said. “A boating accident that severe with that much damage could have been a lot worse. Air pocket in the boat and a life jacket I would say saved her life.”
The wreck remains under investigation by the Florida Wildlife Commission.
Contact Kowarski at 321-242-3640 or ikowarski@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @IlanaKowarski.
