A little boy is lucky to be alive after nearly drowning in a Detroit-area apartment-complex pool.
Seven-year-old Griffin Emerson of Fenton, Mich. was swimming in the shallow end of the pool with arm floaties, when he decided he needed a challenge. Removing his floaties, he began to move towards the deep end.
“I just wanted to prove myself. Like, yeah, I can actually swim and stuff,” Griffin told ABC News.
Griffin’s confidence, however, nearly ended in tragedy. Surveillance footage shows Griffin struggling to keep his head above water. After nearly a minute, Griffin sinks to the bottom of the pool.
Fortunately, two young heroes came to the rescue. Twelve-year-old Noah Roche and his 8-year-old brother, Weston Woods, noticed Griffin and launched into action.
“I saw him, and I just knew that he wasn’t OK,” Noah said. “I saw him at the bottom of the pool and then I didn’t know if he was just playing down there or something. So I just told Weston to get in and dive down to see if he’s OK.”
“His head was going up and down. I knew he wasn’t OK,” Weston added.
Weston dove in and pulled Griffin to the surface. Once out of the pool, Griffin’s mother rushed over and began performing CPR while Noah and Weston’s mother, Sylese Roche, called the police. She told the operator that the little boy had turned blue and wasn’t breathing,
More:‘They’re heroes’: 7-year-old Michigan boy saved from drowning when brothers, 8 and 12, step in
“I was scared I was going to drown. It felt a little… weird. I spit out some water and that’s it!”
Due to the fast response of both the boys and Griffin’s mother, Griffin made a full recovery in just 36 hours.
The local heroes were honored by the Genesee County, Mich. Sheriff’s Office in a special ceremony where they reunited with Griffin and received an award for their heroism.
On ABC News, Tom Kinczkowski, Griffin’s grandfather, expressed his gratitude to the two boys.
“Weston and Noah, you know, they hold a special place in my heart. And they basically saved Griffin. A lot of my heroes don’t wear capes. And there are two of them,” Kinczkowski said.
