Bystanders Save Boy, 3, From Pond Drowning

MILTON, Mass. -- One little boy woke up alive and well Monday after a near death experience at a local pond.

The 3-year-old was very lucky thanks to some quick-thinking heroes.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the child was saved from drowning at Houghton Pond in Milton about 4 p.m. Sunday.

Anthony Graham was swimming with his daughter about 20 feet in the water when he noticed another child floating in the water near a group of other children.

"There were like five other kids surround that kid but I thought they were playing, to see who could stay underneath the water the longest," Graham said.

He waded over and then realized something was wrong.

"He was just hunched back and just sitting there for awhile and I'm like, 'Something is wrong,' and I grabbed him and he was lifeless and I brought him out," Graham said.

He carried the boy to the lifeguard stand but witnesses said on-duty lifeguards refused to give the boy CPR without a mouthpiece to protect themselves. That's when several beachgoers who were CPR-certified stepped forward.

"I didn't think, I just did. And thank God I did," Lanee Johnson said. She did chest compressions while Valerie Vaughn administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

"I was shaking. I was so scared. I was so scared, because, you know, you never think you're going to have to save someone's life," Johnson said.

"It was just scary. I just wish someone would do it for my son if it was ever the case," Vaughn said.

The boy was doing well at Children's Hospital Monday morning.

Hougton's Pond is a state-run facility run by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.