ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - After saving his then 22-month-old brother from drowning in a St. Louis pond, Jayden Groves will be the youngest person to ever receive a Missouri Public Safety Award.
The 12-year-old was only 11 when the incident took place while his family was gathered at Hyde Park in August of last year. This week, he'll receive the Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson during a ceremony in Jefferson City.
Groves is one of seven civilians along with 15 first responders in the state who will be awarded for their heroic and life-saving acts last year.
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During that family gathering, Groves' baby brother went missing and he was the first one to notice. His instincts told him to check the water.
"I saw my brother laying face down, floating," Groves explains. "I got him and I grabbed him out ... It was like three feet. I put one foot in and I grabbed him out."
He got the attention of some adults, who then performed CPR and then Groves ran to the St. Louis Fire Department station that was located in a corner of the park. First responders came and took his brother to the hospital where he made a full recovery.
He was also given the St. Louis Fire Department’s Heroism Award for his actions.
Among the other Missouri honorees are officers who ended threats posed by gunmen, rescued lives after deadly vehicle crashes and saved citizens from catastrophic boating collisions and flooding. Some of the other civilians being awarding include people who helped a police officer take a murder suspect into custody, rescuing a teen who jumped off a cliff and sank to the bottom of a lake and a man who saved two people trapped in a burning armed truck after a crash.
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