Boy Praised for Saving Woman from Drowning in Hotel Pool: ‘Outstanding Young Man’

A 10-year-old boy who rescued a family friend in distress at the bottom of a hotel pool is being praised for his quick thinking.

Waiden Guerrier was on vacation from New York on Friday when he saw the friend struggling in the pool at the Royal Beach Palace Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, 7 News reported.

“Then she got to the deep end, and then she started to sink underwater, and then she passed out,” he recalled, adding he immediately jumped into the water.

“I saw her splashing, and I was coming to bring her up, and she was like keeping dragging me down, so I knew that she was drowning,” he noted.

The boy’s family said the 38-year-old woman had experienced a medical episode and lost consciousness.

“I just saw her stop moving, and I started to freak out,” Waiden continued.

According to 7 News, the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue (FLFR) said he grabbed the woman and dragged her toward the shallow area while holding her head above the water.

“I took her to the 3-feet area in the pool, and then I called for people to come and help,” Waiden said of the rescue.

Officials said another person helped pull her out of the water and not long after, the fire rescue units arrived to find the Guerriers’ friend awake and conscious but unsure of what exactly happened. She also refused transport.

Carine Guerrier, Waiden’s mom, said his swimming lessons in previous years paid off and also praised her son.

“I couldn’t do that, so I’m very proud. He did a good thing,” she noted.

According to the outlet, FLFR officials are nominating him for an award to recognize his heroic act.

“I did nominate him for basically a ‘field safe’ from a near drowning,” FLFR Capt. Seamus Murphy said, “which is rare in itself, but also more rare because it was a child that did it.”

Murphy added, “Outstanding young man, and we’re all very, very proud of him.”