NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Good Samaritan helped save the life of a 5-year-old boy who nearly drowned in a city pool in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Anthony Torres, 36, was swimming at the pool at McCarren Park around 7:10 p.m. when he saw two women pointing at a boy who was face down in the pool.
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"I submerged myself under the water, and I picked him up by his right arm," Torres told 1010 WINS. I cradled him in both of my arms with his head turned to the side to release the water and mucus that he had sustained from being there for so long."
Torres said he then yelled for help but nobody did.
"Even before I submerged myself I screamed 'help' to the lifeguards but nobody came down to help."
Torres laid the boy down at the edge of the pool where he said that a lifeguard who was very aggressive, pushed people and began cursing at people before administering CPR.
Torres, of Long Island City, had been a lifeguard as a teenager.
EMS rushed the child, who was conscious to Woodhull Hospital and s expected to recover.
The Parks Department and the NYPD closed down the pool following the incident to investigate.
Earlier this month the city reached a deal to raise the starting pay for lifeguards and develop a training program to fully staff the city’s “mini pools” in an effort to ease a pool staffing shortage.
Starting wages for lifeguards were also raised to $19.46 per hour for the 2022 summer season.
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