MIAMI BEACH, FL (WSVN/CNN) – Two police officers came to an 89-year-old woman’s rescue after she fell on the floor and found herself trapped there for several days.
A family friend called Miami Beach Police, concerned about 89-year-old Violeta Pilgrim whom he says he considers like a mother. The man said he hadn’t heard from Pilgrim in five days.
Officers Whismick Charles and Pablo Gonzalez responded to the scene and knocked on Pilgrim’s front door, but there was no answer.
The officers went around the side of the building, calling for the woman and banging on windows, according to Officer Ernesto Rodriguez.
That’s when the officers saw Pilgrim on the floor.
“We gotta go around now. She’s still awake. She’s still alive,” said one officer in body cam footage.
Pilgrim was trapped under her bed. She had been lying there – without food or water – for six days.
The officers pulled the screen from the window and climbed into the apartment. They had to raise the mattress and bed frame to rescue Pilgrim, Rodriguez says.
Pilgrim was hospitalized and is recovering.
“She has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but she knows she has the Miami Beach Police Department now as an extended family,” Rodriguez said.
Charles and Gonzalez were recognized by the police department for their actions to save Pilgrim.
Copyright 2018 WSVN, Miami Beach Police, Family photo via CNN. All rights reserved.
