Broward Maintenance Man Pulls 3 Yr. Old From Pool

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) – A 3-year-old child was rushed to a hospital after nearly drowning at an Oakland Park apartment complex pool on Monday.

Property manager Linda Bowers told CBS4's Carey Codd the child and his family live at La Estancia apartment complex at 4180 N.W. 21st St.

CLICK HERE To Watch Carey Codd's Report 

Bowers said the boy's teenage brother and sister were apparently watching the child and thought he had gone home. Instead, Bowers said the  boy wandered off to the pool.

"They saw the little boy run away. They thought he went home. So when the mom came down to ask the brother and sister, 'where's your little brother?' That's when everybody started looking and that's when we found him in the pool," said Bowers.

The maintenance man, on his first day of the job, pulled the boy from water and gave him CPR.

Gregory Johnson said he was supposed to be working at an another building but fate brought him to La Estancia. He said that on Monday afternoon he saw a concerned mother searching for her son near the pool and he thought he could help.

"As soon as she opened the gate, she let out a scream and I was able to run across the parking lot and into the pool area and get the boy out of the water and perform CPR," Johnson told CBS4 News.

Johnson said the boy was at the bottom of the 6 foot deep pool. He might have been under for 3 to 5 minutes Johnson said. Johnson started CPR and started praying.

"The mom was hysterical," he said. "She was on the ground, screaming. The sister was on the ground, screaming. I tried to remain focused and just pump and breathe and get as much water out of the kid as possible."

Johnson said when he began CPR the boy did not have a pulse.  Two minutes later, Johnson said, he felt a faint pulse. Paramedics rushed the child to the hospital.

Bowers said there were a lot of children at the pool for the holiday and that it was emotional for them to watch this crisis unfold. She said everyone in the community prayed for the best.

"By a miracle hopefully God will keep him in the world a little bit longer," she said.

After the incident Gregory Johnson left work to hug his own young child and hopes he might have helped give this little boy a second chance at life.

"Hopefully it all works out," he said. "The kid returns to his family, that's all I want for the kid to pull through."

Codd was told the pool has a gate around it with a latch and that it is always closed.

The property manager said they watch the pool closely and she's not sure how the child was able to slip inside the pool area.

Oakland Park Fire Rescue rushed the 3-year-old to Plantation General Hospital.