March 23--SUNRISE -- The young parents are a portrait in anguish.
A news photograph shows them being walked toward an ambulance, clearly in agony after learning their twin toddlers nearly drowned in a swimming pool.
Two weeks after the photo captured the drama of the moment, a police officer and firefighter pictured with them can recall their struggle to keep their own emotions in check as they perform their duties.
"My heart just ached for the anguish those parents felt," said Lauderhill Fire-Rescue Lt. Jason Clarke, who has a 1-year-old son. "I'm a father, and I can't fathom receiving news like that."
On March 11, five days after the children wandered into the pool, 2-year-old Jada Roman died at Plantation General Hospital. Her brother Henry remains there in critical condition.
Sunrise Police Officer Michelle Eddy, a 17-year veteran, said "that was one of the worst calls ever."
"No one wants to go on a call like that," she said. "And never a call involving children."
Clarke and Eddy both rode in an ambulance with the parents that Thursday morning, taking them to check on the fate of their children. That seven-mile journey to the hospital seemed like the "longest transport of my career," said Clarke, a 13-year veteran.
The children's mother, Althea Bradford, earlier that day had phoned 911 in a breathless panic, saying she had seen "two dead children" in the pool at Oasis of Springtree apartments. The 34-year-old didn't know at the time that the children were her own, police said.
Paramedics and police arrived in about four minutes.
Sunrise Police Officer Eric Bates and Sunrise Fire-Rescue's Anthony Hodge went in the pool and pulled out the children.
When Bradford realized the children were hers, she had someone call the children's father, Eddie Roman, who was at work nearby, officials said.
Officer Eddy arrived at the apartments just after a Sunrise Fire-Rescue ambulance departed with the twins. Eddy said she went straight to the children's mother, who was standing poolside at the apartments. She said she embraced her.
"She is someone I know personally," said Eddy, 40. "I am trying to comfort her while praying the children are all right."
The two were well acquainted because Eddy discusses crime prevention at various Sunrise apartment complexes. Bradford has worked as an office manager at Oasis of Springtree for about 10 years.
"She is distraught," Eddy said. "And my hope is to get her to the hospital so she can check on her children."
The news photo depicts the parents and first responders stepping outside the apartment complex office as they head toward the ambulance. Roman shuts his eyes as he holds his left hand to his forehead. Bradford, with her eyes closed, shouts into a cellphone.
The distress also is apparent on the faces and in the body language of Eddy, Clarke and another firefighter. Clarke, 33, one of two Lauderhill Fire-Rescue members who assisted, said the drama quickly engulfed him.
"Their hearts were yearning for their delicate children," Clarke said of the parents.
In the news photo, Clarke is seen using his left arm to guide Bradford to the ambulance. Clarke said there is no rehearsal for a heartrending situation like that.
"You're never prepared," he said. "You just have to revert to your training and stay calm."
During the ambulance ride to the hospital, Eddy and Clarke maintained physical contact with Bradford, touching her hand or her shoulder as the grieving mother cried and prayed aloud for her children.
Clarke recalled Eddy's compassion and tact.
"She did a great job," Clarke said. "Althea did not want her to leave her side."
Bradford had left the twins in the care of a resident at the apartment complex, police said. How the toddlers slipped out of the caretaker's apartment, some 150 yards away from the pool and adjacent to Bradford's office, remains under investigation, they said.
The caretaker said she was in the bathroom, police said. One of the twins apparently manipulated a lock, enabling them both to exit the apartment and head toward the pool, police said.
Since that Thursday, Bradford and Roman have rarely left the hospital. They couldn't be reached for comment.
"My heart and soul went out to them," Clarke said. "There are no words to say to make things better, no way to console them."
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