A 16-year-old high school student saved three kids from a possible drowning when he spotted them struggling in an ice covered pond in Delaware County, Pennsylvania on Monday.
“I was like ‘oh snap, they’re drowning!’ so I had to save them I couldn’t just let them sit there,” Anthony Alexander told Fox 29.
Although it’s still technically winter, Monday was an unseasonably warm day in Collingdale. So, despite a pond’s icy appearance, it wasn’t completely frozen.
Alexander was at the park when he saw three children who had gone out on the pond and fallen through the ice.
“It seemed like they were just accepting their fate,” he said. But he wasn’t going to let them.
He grabbed a large branch and pulled one of the children to safety, but as he began to inch his way onto the ice and rescue another child, he slipped in.
“I was shocked. That’s how cold it was. My body went into shock,” the teen said.
Meanwhile, police had been called.
Officers on the way to the scene crashed into another police cruiser, which delayed their response time. Collingdale Police Officer Patrick Kilroy arrived on the scene and assisted with rescuing the third child, an 11-year-old girl.
“I was submerged up to my neck out at the deepest point getting to her,” Kilroy said.
The children and the officer were taken to a local hospital, and all were expected to be okay.
As for Alexander, he said he’d do it again if he had to.
“They really needed help, so I was like I was going to help them. I wasn’t going to sit there and let them drown like that.”
Anthony, this is exactly the right attitude to have! We can’t always expect that someone else will step up and help. Thank you for having the courage to risk your safety.
Please share.
