Man dies after rescuing child

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A retired deputy from Longwood has died after jumping into the water Friday to save a boy's life.

A day of boating turned tragic at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Sanctuary in Brevard County. A boy scout with special needs fell off a boat, so a chaperon dove in to save him. Then the rescue took a terrible turn.

Ottie Steve Harrelson, 65,  jumped in the water and saved the boy, but he went under himself. Friends pulled him onto another boat and did CPR as they rushed to the Parrish Park boat ramp.

Lou Pesce was taking his family boating and witnessed the scene. "He was basically unconscious, and they were working on him very vigorously," said Pesce.

Molly Pesce was stunned by it all. "His whole face, his whole countenance was very gray," she said. "He was not moving at all. We actually saw a man, another man giving CPR to a man down in the well of the boat, really working on him. Then the ambulance came in, the firemen, they lifted him out and they were doing CPR on him."

Police said as Harrelson struggled in the water, friend David Freeman came to the rescue. Freeman is a sergeant with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Harrelson is retired from the same agency and also worked for Orlando Police Department. Freeman and a Jacksonville fire fighter did CPR on the boat until they got back to the boat ramp, where paramedics took over.

The special needs scouts on the field trip all attend Morning Star School for students with special needs in Orlando. The rescued boy is doing fine, but a hospital spokeswoman said, as of Saturday morning, Harrelson died.