Quick-thinking 7-year-old boy hailed a hero for saving toddler from bottom of swimming pool

A 7-year-old California boy is being heralded as a real-life superhero for his quick-thinking actions that helped save a toddler drowning in a pool earlier this month. Massiah Browne, of Sacramento, was swimming with relatives at his apartment complex in Sacramento on July 19 when

he said he noticed something odd. “I was just playing in the pool and then I saw a boy at the bottom of the pool,” the second grade student told Good Morning America. “And I went to go get him.” Massiah recalled seeing the 3-year-old boy—a stranger—with his mouth and eyes open before he dove through six feet of water and pulled the child up to the pool’s surface.

Speaking to KTVB, Massiah revealed that he alerted his 9-year-old relative, Savannah, when he first saw the toddler at the bottom of the pool and that she urged him to grab the child’s arm and pull him to the surface. From there, Savannah helped him get the boy onto the pool deck safely, where adults came to help and then called 911. “Savannah brought him to his mom and then they did CPR on the boy and then they called the doctor,” said Massiah, who also goes by his superhero nickname, “Siah Fire.”

Once the toddler was out of the water, Massiah—who has reportedly been swimming half his life—and Savannah are said to have informed an adult family member about the boy. “He wasn’t coming up,” the kids’ aunt told reporters about the toddler. “He was just like, upside down, face down, floating on top of the pool.” A Sacramento Fire Department spokesperson verified the incident to ABC News, confirming that first responders responded to a 911 call at the apartment complex’s pool on July 19. According to the spokesperson, bystanders performed CPR on the boy and the child was breathing by the time medical workers got to the scene.

“The child was transported in critical condition with advanced life support efforts provided by Sacramento firefighters,” the spokesperson said. Speaking to WNYW, Massiah’s mother, Tiara Delvalle, shared that although her son loves the water and has taken swim lessons since he was a toddler himself, she believes his actions that day were pure instinct. “You never hear about a 7-year-old saving a 3-year-old, so it was very shocking,” said Delvalle, who said she rushed to the scene from her apartment after being alerted of the incident by relatives who were at the pool with her son.

Delvalle also revealed that she is in touch with the mother of the boy and that the toddler is doing well. “It’s a miracle,” she said of the boy’s survival. Meanwhile, Massiah’s father, Marcus Browne—a boxer who competed for the United States at the 2012 London Olympics—remarked that although his son swims like “a fish,” he was shocked when he heard of his quick-thinking and heroic actions. “I just couldn’t believe it,” Browne said of his son. “He’s a good kid.”