Footage showing a neighbor’s rescue of a four-year-old boy at a Kansas apartment complex is receiving nationwide attention.
The surveillance video in question—which has received coverage from CNN and the New York Post, among others—shows the moment four-year old Xzavier entered the pool at an apartment complex in the Lawrence area. As the child started to drown, a fellow resident—identified in a regional report from KMBC 9 as 12-year-old Maddox Westerhaus—swiftly got the attention of his father, who leapt into action by jumping a fence and removing Xzavier from the pool.
Due to his past lifeguard history, Maddox’s father, Tom, knew to start CPR on Xzavier, who has autism. Following a period of approximately two minutes and 41 seconds, the child started to breathe and cough up water.
“I’ve been in the fire service for 33 years and I’ve never seen this,” Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Battalion Chief Rob Freeup told reporters of the incident, which occurred on May 18. “We’re usually on the tail end of something that we’re trying our best and it usually has a negative outcome.”
By contrast, Freeup added, this rescue story—which has since seen the father and son pair both being awarded Hometown Hero distinctions from local fire officials—is one that will stick with the community forever.
Xzavier’s mother, who is reported to have been “tending to her four-month-old” at the time of the incident, expressed gratitude for the neighbor’s lifesaving intervention. Per an initial report, she was with the other child when she initially realized Xzavier was missing.
In a public statement on the aforementioned Hometown Hero awards, fire officials touted the father and son’s “courage and bravery” in their swift response. “Due to their quick thinking and actions, the child has made a full recovery,” a Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical rep said.
