By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald
Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.
Beachgoers at a Milton pond are being hailed as heroes for doing CPR on a little boy who nearly drowned yesterday. Witnesses said lifeguards refused to do the life-saving mouth-to-mouth procedure.
The 3-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, is expected to survive after a day at the beach turned into a nightmare.
The beach at Houghton’s Pond was packed with people yesterday at 4 p.m. when the horrifying scene unfolded.
Anthony Graham, 35, who was swimming with his daughter, noticed the boy floating in the water about 20 feet out and carried his lifeless body to the beach.
“I brought him in where the lifeguard was sitting. I layed him down,” said Graham, of Hyde Park.
But several witnesses said lifeguards said they wouldn’t do CPR without a mouthpiece to protect themselves, so two young moms trained in CPR took control.
“I would want any mother to do what we did,” said Valerie Johnson, 25, of Randolph, who gave the boy mouth-to-mouth while her friend did chest compressions.
Several lifeguards yesterday would not comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which runs the popular swimming hole, could not be reached.
The boy was alert when he left in an ambulance, state police said.
Meanwhile in New Hampshire, the body of a Boston man who drowned in Lake Winnipesaukee was recovered yesterday.
Derek McGovern, a 32-year-old Irish national who lived in Roslindale, had failed to make it back to his boat Saturday after jumping into the water.