Hero Kid Saves Pal From Perishing in Icy Pond

by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts) Dec 16th 2009 2:30PM

Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, In The News, Extreme Childhood, Amazing Kids

Text Size:

A California boy is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a young friend who fell through the ice and into a man-made pond.

Victor Flores, 9, and seven-year-old friend Aiden were playing near the pond on property owned by Victor's grandfather in Pioneer, Calif. last week when Aiden decided to walk out on the ice. News 10 reports that Victor warned the little boy not to walk on the pond. "I told him not to do it," Flores tells News 10. "But he kept saying come on, it's okay."

Aiden plunged through the ice and into the freezing water. When Victor tried to pull his friend from the pond, he, too, slipped and fell in. But Victor kept his head despite his own distress and managed to help himself -- and his struggling pal -- back to shore.

"He was screaming my name and trying to pull me under so he could stand on me," Victor tells News 10. "I grabbed onto a crack at the edge and pulled myself out. Then I ran and got a pole to pull him out. But Aiden was having a hard time holding on and kept slipping off."

Victor's grandmother heard the commotion and rushed to the pond, where she helped get Aiden out of the water. Rescue workers credit Victor with the two boys' survival.

"When we arrived Aiden was very, very cold and in shock from being in the cold water," CalFire Capt. Mark Chatterton tells the station. "They could have both drowned. In my mind he was the true hero of this incident. We just came in and took over the efforts that he started."

Related: Prevent Drowning By Teaching Children Swimming Safety, New CPR Guidelines

Source

Comments (61)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Jim 12-16-2009 @ 2:39PM

Nice job Victor!

Deborah 12-17-2009 @ 9:16AM

Thats a truly amazing story.. thanks to their quick thinking, they are alive and safe... Merry Christmas Boys...

Deb

Michal 12-17-2009 @ 4:23PM

B"H they are all right!

mickey 12-17-2009 @ 2:50PM

Yo Victor, your "friend" Aiden has a death wish. Cut him loose now and go find someone else to play with.

Ev 12-16-2009 @ 4:34PM

Well done Victor!! May Santa bring you all you wish, because you are a great kid!!

magicangels4 12-17-2009 @ 9:29AM

That is amazing. God bless you and your friend.

meshella43 12-17-2009 @ 7:04AM

Victor you are a Great Kid!! You sound very mature for your age!!
You guys are going to be great friends for live!

sjoyce 12-17-2009 @ 2:33PM

I know kids are curious.I was curious when i was a kid to.But i have been in the same situation as a kid & would not dare to walk across an ice coverd pond.Just thank god they are okay but they should have been told to never to go near the pond in the first place!!!

n0_on3 12-17-2009 @ 2:31PM

im sure they were told not to go near the pond. but as im sure you are also aware, kids will do things regardless of what they are told. so there's no reason to be a parent on here. they are both alive and safe.

Margaret 12-17-2009 @ 8:11AM

What an amazing young boy!!!! Way to go, Victor! : D

Kathy 12-17-2009 @ 5:50PM

Great job Victor! When I was a kid I lost 2 of my good friends the same way one trying to save the other but unfortunatley both perished in the ice frozen pond. That was 37 years ago and will always sadden me. Great job and way to go !

Cindy 12-17-2009 @ 8:15AM

Quick thinking Victor !

peppa 12-17-2009 @ 9:10AM

CHILDREN WILL BE CHILDREN....

GRANDPA >>> DRAIN THE POND !

DUCKS ARE JUST BEAUTIFUL, BUT CHILDREN ARE WAY MORE BEAUTIFUL!

WHY NOT INSTALL A FENCE WITH A LOCK, AROUND YOUR POND , IF YOUR NOT WILLING TO DRAIN THE POND ?????

OR > PUT IN A FEW BIRDBATHS, THEY ARE LOVELY TOO!

KWEENBEE 12-17-2009 @ 12:47PM

I SAY KEEP THE DAMN WILLFUL AND UNTEACHABLE KID OUT OF THE YARD, PERIOD! Why should the grandfather drain his pond? That is BS.

RiverRat3l7 12-17-2009 @ 1:18PM

Sure. And let's put a high cement fence around all the oceans ... and if that doesn't work we can drain them!! Can't be too careful where kids are concerned, now can we?
I never heard anything so dumb in whole life! Drain the pond? Surely you jest. Why not just keep the kids in their beds for 20 years and not let 'em out. That way they can be safe. Kids do things they shouldn't ... even in bed! Leave 'em alone and let 'em grow up, making mistakes. Give good reinforcement, hug them, and LET THEM GROW UP. They absolutely, positively MUST make mistakes (just you you and me too) to learn. It's just how we work. Being too protective is just plain dumb.

Ron 12-17-2009 @ 2:06PM

Maybe draining the pond is not feasable. If it is 15 feet deep it may just be a natural part of the surroundings. Fencing in the pond may be another thing that just cannot be done. The story does not indicate how large the pond is, or the terrain surrounding the pond. But it does appear that the kid that walked out onto the pond learned his lesson.

n0_on3 12-17-2009 @ 2:42PM

riverrat317 -- i agree with you completely. couldn't have said it better myself.

Petracca 12-17-2009 @ 8:42AM

Rock the house Young Blood !* Just simple human virtue found in the raw !! There is good in humanity...courage and resourcefulness and goodness are native to the better of our breed. Incidentally things like this conflict in my mind that "Man is inherently evil" as it says in the bible.

gayle 12-17-2009 @ 9:10AM

Victor, Victor, Victor! I'm so very very proud of you. What a great kid you are. I know you will grow into a fine outstanding man one day.

Patricia 12-17-2009 @ 9:27AM

If Victor's family owns the property, at his age he should know that the pond is not a safe place in the winter, & how to tell if & when it is frozen enough to walk on.
Victor never should have allowed the younger boy to go anywhere near the pond.

When I was ~8 yrs.old, a nieghborhood girl ~11yrs.old told me there was a pine tree farm a few blocks away from where we lived. She wanted to go there & asked me if I wanted to go with her. We went & the area around the trees was flooded like a pond with the trees growing out of the water. The pond was frozen, but the ice was not solid up to the tree trunks,...there were big melted circles around the perimiter of the tree branches.
She started walking on the ice. I told her not to go too close to the trees, but she wouldn't listen. She fell through by one of the trees & was screaming that she couldn't get out. I told her to put her feet against the tree trunk & use it to push off of. She said her legs hurt so much she couldn't move them.
I laid down on the ice & slid over to her, put my feet on the tree trunk, grabbed her coat & pulled her up, & foreward away from the whole. Then I said, "Now grab my hands & pull me foreward. She stood there shaking her head, "No".
I had to bend my knees into the icy water & get wet myself, to let the tree trunk staighten out, so it would have some sping, like a diving board, & bounce my feet off the tree trunk to catipult myself foreward away from the hole, so I could safely stand up.
We walked home about 1 1/2 miles wet, frozen solid & whining!!
And years later I found out that that psycho & cowardly scank tells that story the other way around!!!! The complete truth is that she purposely took me there to have me fall in & she would have walked away,...but she would have hung around long enough to watch me die first.
She was that evil when she was ~11 yrs. old & is still a lieing low life.

Why did Victor take the other boy anywhere near the pond??!!