Watch as hero North Carolina dad saves toddler daughter from drowning in family pool

A North Carolina father is being hailed a hero after dramatic video shows him saving his 2 1/2 year-old daughter's life after she stopped breathing in a family's swimming pool.

The frightening scene took place over Memorial Day weekend in the city of Gastonia, a city about 20 miles east of Charlotte.

Home video surveillance released by the Gastonia Police Department shows the toddler's father, identified as Matthew Shortridge, jump in the pool, pull her out and perform CPR on the toddler.

"My 10-year-old daughter... is screaming out my youngest daughter's name: 'Mila! 'And she just screamed it really loud. I looked, turned around and saw my 2 1/2 year-old daughter, Mila floating and I jumped in," her father recalled of the May 27th incident.

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'I just felt completely helpless'

The girl's mother, Amy Shortridge, said she "felt completely hopeless" when she learned her daughter stopped breathing.

"How could this happen? How am I going to live my life with my baby being gone," Shortridge says in a video clip released by police on X. "When I got there and knelt beside of her... she was completely blue and gray.

Someone called 911.

"The baby fell in the pool," an unidentified frantic woman tells a dispatcher in a 911 call released by police listened to by USA TODAY.

'Her stomach was filled with air'

Mila's father and an unidentified nurse at the scene then began CPR police, said, and eventually, Mila's father said, he was able to get his daughter to start breathing again.

"Her stomach was filled with air, I got her up and I was going to try and express the air by beating on her back and when I did she did release the air and she started to cry," her father recalled.

The toddler was transported to a hospital and police posted on X that she has made a full recovery.

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'Know CPR, use life vests and have a plan'

The police department reported nine out of 10 children between ages 1 and 14 were under supervision when they died.

"Our rule now is going to be an adult, myself or my husband is in the water playing with the children or interacting with them," the toddler's mother said.

"The Gastonia Police Department wants all families, everywhere, to be cautious at pools, lakes, and beaches," the department posted on X. "Know CPR, use life vests, and have a plan."

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.