ISABELLA COUNTY, MI – A 12-year-old boy saved a 3-year-old from drowning on Wednesday after the toddler wandered away from his parents and fell into the hotel pool.
Brayden Armstrong, 12, was staying at the Mt. Pleasant Days Inn and Suites in Isabella County, Michigan for a nearby wrestling camp when he went to the pool to grab clothes he had forgotten from earlier. Brayden said when he had gone back, he saw a little boy staring at the 3-year-old’s floating body face down in the water. Brayden told the little boy, who happened to be the toddler’s brother, to run and get help. Thinking quickly, Brayden said he jumped into the pool and pulled the 3-year-old out.
“I just saw the kid and jumped in. Like, I was standing there for a second thinking like well maybe he’s going to get up, like he was just messing around in the pool, and I realized he wasn’t getting up so I jumped in and grabbed him,” said Brayden.
Brayden’s older brother, Blake Armstrong, said a lady came out of her room who knew CPR and started performing it on the 3-year-old. Then, an older man came out who said he was a nurse. The man flipped the toddler over and started rubbing and patting his back when the ambulance finally showed up.
According to the Isabella County Sheriff, the toddler’s parents work at the hotel. As one of his parents was about to go home with their kids, the 3-year-old wandered off, slipped on the pool stairs, and was trapped underwater for nearly 2 minutes.
That little boy is now calling Brayden a hero. Isabella County sheriff told CNN:
“For a 12-year-old boy to walk in, comprehend what’s going on that quickly and pull him out of the water, there’s no other word to describe him than hero. That’s what our fiber is made up of human beings, and that’s a great story and thank gosh that he was there because he definitely absolutely saved this young toddler’s life.”
The toddler was brought to the hospital and is expected to be okay.
