Off-Duty Chicago Cop Jumps Into Pool -- Shoes And All -- To Revive Drowned Teen
WBBM's Lisa Fielding
(CBS) – Chicago Police Sgt. Cindy Guerra was off duty at a graduation party in Orland Park over the weekend when someone starting yelling that a teenage boy was at the bottom of the swimming pool.
"One of the guests, a young girl alerted me that her cousin was as the bottom of the pool and couldn't get him up. I jumped in without hesitation and pulled him out," she says.
Guerra says she dragged the boy to the grass and immediately started CPR.
"He was unresponsive and not breathing. I did CPR for a couple of minutes, then he took a breath and I felt his heart beating again," she says.
The boy went down the slide in about 12 feet of water and didn't come up. Guerra was able to revive him before paramedics arrived.
"I just instinctively jumped in. I had my clothes and shoes on," she says.
The 22 year old department veteran she's never made a save like this.
"I was a lifeguard many, many moons ago, so I did it back then when I was young, but not to this extent where the person is completely unresponsive and not breathing," she says.
Guerra credits her CPR training and says any officer in her shoes would have done the same thing.
"You just react instinctively. The hero pill is so hard to swallow given the climate and everything that is going on. I was just happy that I was there. It was the right place at the right time and I'm just happy I was able to help this boy," she says.
The boy was expected to leave the hospital today and police say he will be okay.
Guerra offers some advice to parents: "Teach your kids how to swim. I taught my son to swim at a very young age. Don't take anything for granted. We've got a keep an eye on our kids. You're at a party, you think everybody is watching their kids it's not something you think it's going to happen until it does."
