Firefighters from northern Baltimore County rescued a 6-year-old Parkton boy after he fell into a well inside a pump house at the rear of his home on April 8, 1997.
Baltimore County Lieutenant Mark Gardner, a rescue specialist assigned to the county's Advanced Tactical Rescue Unit, descended 45 feet into the unused shaft and pulled Roderick D. Aguillard IV to safety.
The incident occurred when Roderick and his brothers were playing in the yard after dinner at around 6:30 P.M. The old well was covered over but gave way when the youngster stepped on weak boards. He was trapped in the shaft for over an hour.
Gardner, a career firefighter assigned to the Texas fire station, was lowered into the three-foot-wide crevice with the assistance of a pulley. Firefighters removed loose bricks from the neck of the darkened shaft before Gardner was lowered inside.
Roderick, who suffered a broken leg in the fall, was clutching a pipe in deep water at the bottom of the shaft. His first words to his rescuer? "I want my mommy!"
The child was transported to Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore and treated for a broken leg.
Joseph Louderback
