Reynaldo Martinez was inside his home at the Spring Hill Apartments on Hamilton Avenue when he looked out of the window, saw trouble and knew he had to do something.
He asked some children if anyone was under water at the apartment's swimming pool.
"They said, 'Yes,'" Martinez said. "I jumped over the fence and went over there, asked the Lord to help me out, grabbed the boy from the arm, brought him out of the swimming pool."
The victim was a 9-year-old boy. Officials with MedStar ambulance said the boy was under water for about four minutes.
Spokesperson Matt Zavadsky said the boy was conscious during transport to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, where he was listed in critical condition. Zavadsky said a MedStar dispatcher also helped give CPR instructions over the phone.
"He was not breathing," said Martinez. "I just started applying CPR. I asked the Lord God to help me and I was doing it and he started turning blue. His fingers started twitching. His feet started moving. His eyes opened. I just telling him, 'Breathe. Breathe.'"
Martinez said he saw the boy's father use a pole to poke at the water and help rescue his son, but it was Martinez who dove in. He doesn't know the family well because he said they are new residents to the apartment complex.
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"It makes me feel real bad because I have a 14-year-old son," Martinez said. "I tell him that you have to have an adult when you are swimming over here, because there is no lifeguard."
"I'm just so grateful that the [9-year-old] boy's alive," Martinez said. "I just thank the Lord upstairs for helping guide me through this."
