Actions of Boy, 12, and His Mother Save Girl’s Life

A 12-year-old boy pulled a drowning child from his family’s swimming pool Monday, then telephoned police while his mother worked to resuscitate the victim, police said.

“It was quick action on both their parts” that saved the life of 4-year-old Christine McCarty, Fullerton Police Sgt. Doug Cave said.

Cave said Brett Kelly, 12, and his brother Jonathan, 10, had been swimming about 2:30 p.m. as the little girl who lived next door sat on a nearby deck. The boys were not watching when the girl slipped into the water.

“They looked up and saw she wasn’t on the deck, then they saw her face down in the water,” Cave said.

Brett pulled the girl from the water and called for his mother, Janet Kelly, who gave the child cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Brett called 911 and reported the incident to police.

Cave said Christine had stopped breathing and that “when the paramedics came, she was blue and still had water in her lungs.”

Paramedics took the girl to St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton, where doctors planned to keep her overnight for observation, Cave said.

Christine, who was in her swimsuit, had been invited to the neighbors’ home in the 2300 block of Lark Ellen Drive to sit by the pool and watch the boys. Because she did not know how to swim, she was not supposed to go into the water, Cave said. Her parents were not at the Kelly house when the incident occurred.