Chilling body camera video shows Louisville officers rescuing boy from burning home
The smallest act of courage can have the power to shift so much for the better. That’s what happened on a night when a Louisville neighborhood’s cries for help pierced through thick smoke and panic. As reported by WDRB News on November 29, 2025, body camera footage released recently by the Louisville Metro Police Department captured what happened several months ago, when officers were dispatched to a house fire.
The call came in about a house fire, with the most terrifying detail any responder can hear: children were trapped inside. When the officers arrived, they were met with a scene that had flames rolling out of the structure, smoke so dense it swallowed the doorway, and people outside were begging to save the children still inside. Officers Capito and Richardson didn’t hesitate and ran straight into the home, searching through the dark, scorching heat for the kid.
Inside, visibility was nearly zero, the air unbreathable, and the footage shows a neighbor climbing through a bedroom window in sheer desperation, helping locate the unconscious child so he could be taken to safety as soon as possible. That combined effort, a neighbor reaching in, officers pulling him out, became the difference between life and death. After being brought to the hospital, the boy spent several weeks recovering from serious burn injuries. Another young boy suffered severe burns in the same fire. Their mother, Brandi Rayburn, lived through what no parent should ever face: long days in a hospital waiting room, long nights wondering how close she came to losing them.
According to a report published by Rainbow Restoration, house fires cause property damage worth billions every year. The leading cause of house fires is cooking, followed by factors such as carelessness and faulty electrical equipment. Fire departments receive around 1.5 million reports annually. The spread of fire can be prevented by following a few protocols, such as ensuring easy access to extinguishers, installing smoke detectors in working condition, and never leaving open flames unattended.
Months later, when the boys were well enough, Rayburn reached out to LMPD and mentioned that her sons, Camdyn and Coltyn, wanted to meet the officers who had saved their lives and say thank you. For Officer Capito, the reunion moment was striking in a way no commendation could match. “I appreciated much more than ‘Hey, you did good’ from a commanding officer or a letter, like having kids cry seeing you, it's like a different feeling. I would do it again,” he said. The boys carried gift baskets for the officers, small tokens of gratitude, but carrying a weight that words couldn’t convey.
For this family, that anchor took the shape of two boys stepping forward to say thank you and two officers realizing the depth of the lives they helped rewrite.