Witness describes harrowing ordeal after young drowning victim pulled from Redding hotel pool, resuscitated
UPDATED: Monday, July 26, 10:46 a.m.
Originally published: Friday, July 23, 12:25 p.m.
REDDING, Calif. — Additional details and information have surfaced after a juvenile drowning victim’s lifeless body was pulled from a Redding hotel pool Thursday evening, July 22. The young drowning victim was subsequently resuscitated by firefighters who happened to be staying at the location while assisting with wildfire firefighting efforts throughout Shasta County and the surrounding areas.
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After reading a Shasta County News Source (SCNS) article about the drowning and subsequent successful resuscitation, Lynde Farhat-Corbett of Livermore, California contacted SCNS, saying she had been at the Best Western Plus Hilltop Inn at 2300 Hilltop Drive, in Redding, with her four sons, ages 12, 9, and twins, age 3, when the 7:30 p.m. incident occurred.
“My boys were in the pool and I was getting my towel and drying off when I heard a women screaming,” Lynde told SCNS today.
“I saw a woman near my 12-year-old son, Aiden. She was barely staying above water yelling help,” Lynde described. “And then I notice another woman barely above water with a boy’s body slumped over her near the side of the pool where it was about five feet deep.”
After hearing the frantic cries for help, Lynde said she ran to the pool’s edge and helped pull the boy’s body from the pool, while her 12-year-old son Aiden was trying to help a second woman back to the shallow side of the pool.
“But he said she didn’t know how to swim and was pulling him down,” she continued.
Lynde and the first woman started performing CPR she said, adding that the victim’s lips were purple, he was not breathing and had no pulse, and that water was pouring from his nose and mouth.
“We started pumping on his chest while we yelled for help and 911,” Lynde described.
Just about the time Lynde began to believe there was no hope in saving the victim, she spotted a man walking in the hall with a firefighter. As it turned out, countless CAL FIRE and other fire and rescue personnel were staying at the hotel while resting between shifts of battling area wildfires.
See Original Story: Juvenile resuscitated after Redding drowning
“The firefighter ran in and started providing true CPR while calling all his buddies for gear and oxygen tanks,” Lynde continued; adding that within moments the entire pool area was filled with firefighters and other rescue personnel who came from every direction from the hotel rooms they had been staying at.
“I got my boys to the side and we just stood and watched firemen hopping the pool fence and running to the boy’s aid,” Lynde described; adding she could not describe the sense of relief she felt when she soon heard one of the firefighters performing CPR say that the victim had regained a pulse and had started breathing again. The firefighter then updated that the child had slowly begun to regain consciousness.
“Then a firetruck pulled up and they put him on a stretcher and we watched them roll him out of the pool area,” she described.
“I don’t know who stated he fell in the pool, I can’t say if that is correct or not because I was turned around. But my 12-year-old said the boy had been in the pool crawling across the wall, so he thought he must have slipped off the wall,” said Lynde.
“I was just happy the hotel was filled with firemen and that we saw the boy regain life so my children didn’t have to witness someone die in front of them,” Lynde explained; adding that Aiden felt good knowing he made a difference helping the other woman who couldn’t swim safely get out of the pool.
“We just hope the boy makes a full recovery,” Lynde said; while adding, “For the firefighters – It would have been a grim outcome if they weren’t staying at our hotel and I am grateful my boys got to watch the victim regain life due to their valiant efforts.”
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About her 12-year-old son, Aiden, Lynde said she could not be more proud of how he responded to the crisis.
“He is my humble one,” the proud mom told SCNS today. “I told him right after he should be proud of himself and that he truly made a difference.”
“I was blessed that he was able to handle himself and help her,” she continued.
it was not immediately known what CAL FIRE or other firefighting and rescue agencies were involved in the successful resuscitation and a call to CAL FIRE yielded no further information regarding the incident.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.
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