10-Year-Old Saves Little Sister From Drowning

Video shows girl leaping in pool to drag out 3-year-old
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2019 7:17 PM CDT

Terrifying surveillance video shows a 3-year-old Georgia girl jump into her apartment complex pool wearing an inner tube around her waist—only for the inflatable device to flip her upside down, trapping her head under the water. Eventually Kali Dallis' body came free of the tube, but after flailing in an attempt to get above water, she ended up back underneath the surface. That's when her 10-year-old sister Jayla, who had just exited the pool, turned around and saw what was going on. The surveillance footage also captured Jayla racing across the pavement and leaping into the pool, grabbing her sister, and dragging her out of the water. Thanks to Jayla, the girls' aunt and an apartment manager who took turns doing CPR, a witness who called 911, and the quick response of a local police officer, Kali was just released Friday after two weeks in the hospital.

"She was, like, heavy, so I had to pull her by her hair, then I grabbed her by her waist and pulled her up," Jayla tells WSB-TV of rescuing her sister. Meanwhile, Sgt. Ed Lyons was nearby, checking reports in his police car, when the call came in. He has his own 6-year-old daughter, he tells WSB: "I saw my little girl laying there. Same kind of little bathing suit she wears. Same little hair pulled up in a little bun up top. You know, you kind of have to push past that and do what you're trained to do." Kali was spitting up water, but still unconscious, when the ambulance arrived, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports; she was in critical condition when she arrived at the hospital. Doctors weren't sure whether she'd pull through, but they now say she will make a full recovery. "It's amazing. It's a miracle," the girls' mother says. "Don't take your eyes off of them. All the floats are not safe. Be careful. Watch your kids." (More uplifting news stories.)

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