Men stop to rescue boy, 10, in pool

Two Comcast technicians driving by a Des Moines apartment complex rescued an unconscious 10-year-old boy from the bottom of a swimming pool yesterday afternoon after they heard a woman screaming for help.

The boy, who wasn't identified, was in critical but stable condition at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle, a fire official said. It was not clear how long the boy was underwater.

Apparently, yesterday was the first day the swimming pool at Highland Village Townhomes was opened.

Technicians Ryan Thornhill and Todd Hickam, who work at a field office in Auburn, were driving by the complex in separate vehicles when they saw the woman by the gate screaming and pointing to the 8-foot-deep pool.

Hickam stopped his car, saw the boy at the bottom of the pool and asked Thornhill, who was driving behind him, to stop as well. Hickam, 38, of Covington, jumped in the pool.

"The child was not breathing, and we called 911, and Ryan gave him CPR really quick, and he responded," Hickam said.

The boy was wearing swimming trunks but apparently could not swim. The woman, who is the boy's cousin and can't swim, was at the pool, as were two other children. "They were all screaming that the boy was dead," Hickam said.

The Des Moines Fire District received a call at 12:26 p.m. of a near drowning at the pool, said Fire Chief Jim Polhamus. Crews arrived at 12:29 p.m. and found the boy out of the pool, with a pulse and breathing.

"Basically with all the training we get here, I was ready to go," said 29-year-old Thornhill of Puyallup.

"I just went right into it — he had a pulse — so I just started giving him mouth-to-mouth," he said.

After the Comcast employees took the boy out of the pool, they got towels and made him a pillow and a blanket and waited until paramedics arrived.

Seung Hwa Hong: 206-464-3347 or ihong@seattletimes.com