Teen Races to Save Drowning Toddler After Frantic Mom Spots Body at Bottom of Pool
When families come together on Mother’s Day, it’s a wonderful time to celebrate the lives of loved ones and the moms who make it all work — but for one family in Henry County, Georgia, it was a 13-year-old boy who became the hero when the fun day very nearly turned deadly.
The family had gathered at one relative’s home that had a pool. There were adults present, but at some point, a 2-year-old named Kingston managed to quietly slip into the pool unnoticed and sank to the bottom.
When his mom realized that he was missing, she started growing frantic and scanning the pool. A 13-year-old who was present, Randy Brown, got out to help her look.
According to an article from the Fayette County Public Schools, Brown had had swim lessons and some lifeguard training at The Swim Center in Stockbridge, which helped prepare him for what he needed to do next.
Kingston’s body was finally spotted at the bottom of the pool, which was 12 feet deep. When his mother saw his body at the bottom of the pool she started screaming for someone to help him.
“She was screaming on the side of the pool and was like, ‘There’s my son,'” Brown told WAGA-TV.
Brown dived in immediately, later saying he didn’t have time to think of anything and simply acted.
He made it to the bottom, picked up the toddler and brought him back to the surface, where others performed CPR and were able to revive the boy by the time first responders arrived.
The magnitude of the rescue was increased by the fact that Brown was literally the only person present who could have rescued the boy.
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In a later interview with The Swim Center, Brown explained that the adults there either couldn’t swim or wouldn’t have been able to dive to the bottom of the pool because their lungs have been impacted by smoking.
“If I didn’t do what I did right there, he might not be here today,” Brown said. “I just thank God that everybody was there and we had trained, professional, CPR-certified people there.”
“Thank God Randy was there,” Kingston’s mother said.
The incident hasn’t left Brown unscathed, but along with the terror he experienced in retrospect, he also has a newfound sense of accomplishment.
“The day after, when I was at school, I kind of felt … I don’t know,” he said.
“Like, traumatized, because when he drowned, like, he wasn’t drowning, he drowned. When I went down there and he was, like his arm was laid out, he had his head down on the pavement, and he had drowned.
“It’s like, wow, I just saved a whole life. I just saved a whole 2-year-old life.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
