‘Here to help’: Quick-thinking officer helps save 3-year-old girl at Lake Norman

A little girl is recovering after a quick-thinking officer saved her life on Lake Norman over the holiday weekend.

What started as a routine patrol for Eric Burkhalter quickly turned into him carrying a three-year-old girl up a boat ramp to waiting paramedics.

“I picked the daughter up and I ran her up the dock here, and the fire trucks just met us at the top of the hill,” said Burkhalter, an officer with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Burkhalter’s mad dash very well could have saved a life.

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He was patrolling at Lake Norman on July 5 when he saw a family with small children waving him down frantically. When he got to the boat, it was chaos.

“I’m not a medical expert so I can’t exactly say, I just know she was bleeding pretty good when I got to her,” Burkhalter told Channel 9′s Eli Brand.

Shattered glass was everywhere from a broken windshield, and a three-year-old girl was bleeding heavily from her leg.

Burkhalter’s instincts kicked in, and he responded like a true hero.

“Just get the bleeding stopped and get her stable,” he said.

Burkhalter serves in the Air Force National Guard and used his military training to tourniquet the child’s leg. He then took control of the family’s boat, drove it to a boat launch and carried her up to the paramedics.

“It’s one of them things in the back of my mind, you’re a law enforcement officer but you’re also a first responder, so at the end of the day, you’re here to help folks,” Burkhalter told Brand.

That little girl’s life was saved.

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Her family didn’t want to talk on camera, but they told Brand their daughter is expected to make a full recovery.

Burkhalter said it’s unusual for someone like him to be there when tragedy strikes, so he encourages everyone to have a first aid kid on the water and undergo some type of emergency training.

(WATCH: Man saved from drowning at Lake Norman)