WAYNE TOWNSHIP, Ind. -- Aiden Miller, the 6-year-old Westlake Elementary School student rescued from a pond after he wandered away from the playground, returned to class Thursday morning.
"He is doing fantastic," said Miller's mother, Amanda Sisk. "I mean he was completely back to his normal self as soon as I was at the hospital. God was just he put that man in the right place at the exact right time and i am just so thankful that he saved my little boy."
Miller left the playground just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to a release from the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township. Staff members began looking for him as soon as they realized he was gone.
Miller walked to a retention pond on the training grounds of the Wayne Township Fire Department on North High School Road. Wayne Township Fire Department Deputy Chief Rick Scott saw him in the pond and went in after him.
Scott said Miller was struggling to keep his head above the water, that's estimated about 6 to 7 feet deep.
"Once he got his feet on the ground he held my hand," said Scott.
Miller was fully alert and taken to Riley Hospital for Children as a precaution, according to the school district. He was kept at the hospital overnight.
The superintendent of the district said Miller was lost during a schedule mixup with recess, but Miller's father was not happy with that response.
"I just finished shaking that man's hand for saving my baby. This is not right, that's my son" said Anthony Miller, the child's father. "I want something done and I want it done now."
Sisk said she does believe the school "dropped the ball a bit."
"I also understand that Aiden is a handful," she said. He has autism and so i even told the school before he started that school that he is a runner."
The school district is investigating the incident.
"The MSD of Wayne Township is grateful to the Wayne Township Fire Department for helping keep our student safe. The school district is investigating the incident and will make any changes necessary to continue to provide the safest environment possible for our students."
