Chicago cop praised for saving young boy from drowning
CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Heroic action by an off-duty Chicago police officer saved a boy from drowning over the weekend.
The veteran police sergeant talked about the rescue Monday.
“I really didn’t have time to think, instinctively, I just reacted,” said Sgt. Cindy Guerra.
Guerra has been on the force for 22 years, but not until this weekend had she performed a life-saving water rescue. It happened at a crowded, backyard pool party in Orland Park.
The victim was a ten to twelve year old boy.
“He went down the slide, thinking that he was going to be able to hit the bottom of the pool, and it's about eleven or twelve feet deep, and so, he didn't, he just stayed at the bottom,” Guerra said.
Guerra has a son, about the same age, and was keeping an eye on the pool.
“I just instinctively jumped out of my seat. I had my shoes on, all my clothes, I saw him at the bottom, I jumped in, grabbed him, brought him up, and I didn't do anything that no other police officer would have done in my shoes,” she said.
Guerra used CPR to revive him. Paramedics later took the boy to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.
The victims' family did not respond to FOX 32’s request for comment, but Guerra says the boy was expected to be released today.
“The hero pill is so hard to swallow. Just given the climate and everything that's going on. The true heroes are my brothers and sisters in Dallas and Baton rouge that are no longer here to tell the story,” Guerra said.
Sergeant Guerra also says she appreciates all the attention she's getting, but she doesn't want anyone to forget that police officers perform acts of heroism every day of the year.