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Kansas

Kansas father and son honored for saving 4-year-old boy with autism from drowning

The little boy was underwater for over three minutes in the Lawrence, Kansas apartment complex's pool before being saved

Paul Best By Paul Best Fox News
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Surveillance video shows father and son saving 4-year-old boy from drowning in apartment complex's pool Video

Surveillance video shows father and son saving 4-year-old boy from drowning in apartment complex's pool

The Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Department released surveillance video that shows a father and son springing into action to save a 4-year-old boy with autism from drowning.

The City of Lawrence, Kansas, honored a heroic father-and-son duo who saved a 4-year-old boy with autism from drowning in an apartment complex's pool earlier this month. 

The little boy, Xavier Rigney, briefly got out of his mother's sight and somehow made his way through a locked fence before jumping into the pool.

"His head goes completely under the water. His mouth and nose never come up above the water, and that's why we say they don't have the ability to scream," Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Lt. Jeff Krall, a paramedic who lost a child of his own in 2008, explained at a press conference. "What you see with his arms, you see just a little bit of movement, we call it climbing, they're trying to climb out of the water."

Tom Westerhouse saved 4-year-old boy from drowning

Tom Westerhouse jumped a 6-foot fence, pulled the 4-year-old boy out of the water, then started performing CPR.  (City of Lawrence, Kansas)

Maddox Westerhouse, 12, saw Xavier drowning and ran to get his dad, Tom, from their nearby apartment. 

"My friends were yelling at me to go get help and I just went like, 'Oh no,' and ran," Maddox said. 

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Tom sprang into action, jumping the 6-foot fence then into the pool to pull Xavier out and start performing CPR. 

"When he started to cough up water and everything, I knew that was a good sign," Tom said, noting that he took a CPR course over 15 years ago but the training came back to him in the moment. "It definitely hits home a lot harder having a son myself." 

  • Lawrence Kansas father and son honored
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    Tom and Maddox Westerhouse were honored by the City of Lawrence on Thursday.  (City of Lawrence, Kansas)

  • Kansas boy saved from drowning
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    Xavier and his mother thanked first responders and the father-and-son duo who saved the 4-year-old boy.  (City of Lawrence, Kansas)

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Xavier's mother, Alexis, reunited with Tom and Maddox for the first time on Thursday and thanked them for their heroic actions. 

"He's my best friend so I don't know what I would do without him," Alexis said through tears. 

Paul Best is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to Paul.Best@fox.com and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.