Police issue urgent warning after adults swim past drowning boy as he sinks in pool
Claire Reid
Police have issued a warning to parents after a seven-year-old boy almost drowned in a pool, while adults swimming nearby seemingly didn’t spot any trouble.
Griffin Emerson was swimming in the deep end of a pool at an apartment complex in Fenton, Michigan, when things took a potentially disastrous turn.
Shocking footage from the incident shows the youngster getting into trouble in the water and struggling to keep his head above the water after removing the inflatable armbands he was wearing.
Adults who are using the pool at the same time swim past completely oblivious to the fact that the little boy is in danger, meaning Griffin was under water for around a minute before he was rescued.
The Genesee County Sheriff's Office has now warned parents of three tips to keep their little ones safe around water: know your surroundings, know CPR and teach your children what to look for and how to swim.
Thankfully, Griffin was rescued after Noah Roche, 12, and his brother Weston Woods, 8, saw him in the water and sprung into action.
Noah said: "I saw him and I just knew that he wasn't OK.
"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."
Weston added: "His head was going up and down. I knew he wasn't OK.”
After sensing something was wrong, Weston jumped in and was able to pull him up to the surface, and was brought back onto dry land.
The boys’ mother Sylese Roche called 911 and told the operator that he had ‘turned blue’ and wasn’t breathing.
While she called for help, Griffin’s mum rushed over to carry out CPR and was able to get him breathing again.
Speaking after the incident, Griffin said: "I was scared I was gonna drown. It felt all weird. I spit out some water and that's it.”
Heaping praise on the young rescuers, Sheriff Christopher Swanson of Genesee County said: "There were two heroes who saw this and unbeknown to anybody, they jumped into the pool and they picked up the 7-year-old [and] dragged him to the side.
"Here's the best part - the two rescuers are 12 and eight years old."
Tom Kinczkowski, Griffin's grandfather, said: "Most heroes don't wear capes and that's these guys.
"Without these guys, he wouldn't be here right now."