OKC Neighborhood Lifeguards Save Boy On First Day On Job

It had all the makings of disaster. A 12-year-old boy discovered not breathing at the bottom of a pool, two lifeguards on their first day on the job, and first responders called to a secluded neighborhood pool.

It happened at the Lansbrook neighborhood pool's opening day, July 21.

“I was ‘I hope I don’t have to save anybody on my first day’,” said Susan Nichols.

The 12-year-old boy was playing a game called Captain with his friends.

“You have a floatie or a boat, you paddle everywhere and I guess I just slipped off it,” said the boy, who News 9 is not identifying because of privacy concerns.

Sixteen-year-old Nichols noticed him on the bottom of the pool.

“I didn’t see any air bubbles coming up so I was like, 'Oh my God. I have to get him',” she remembered Tuesday.

“All of a sudden I hear Susan yelling my name and I turn around and I see a little boy unconscious in her arms and she told me to get her pocket mask and call 911,” recalls Kaitlin Pulido, another lifeguard on duty. It was also her first day.

“It’s my call, my neighborhood,” said EMSA dispatcher Terry Cassar on the other end of the line.

“As soon as I knew it was the pool and that they were coming, it’s like we’re 100 yards off the road here and there’s one path that comes off the street you can come to.”

While he directed the ambulance in, Susan and another lifeguard were able to continue CPR until the boy started breathing again.

Tuesday, Terry and EMSA recognized the lifeguards with an Everyday Hero award.