Verona lifeguard, young witnesses save drowning boy

A 12-year-old boy splashed and flailed in the Verona Community Pool on July 6, struggling to stay afloat.

The boy sank underwater in the deep end of the pool in what could have been a disastrous outcome.

Instead, a young lifeguard on duty came to the rescue with the help of two alert middle-school students.

It was only the third day on the job for 16-year-old Matthew Forget when the 12-year-old boy needed him. The boy had jumped off the diving board but did not seem to know how to swim once he hit the water.

Friends Briele Sposato, 11, and Sam Gerardi, 10, were the first to see him in trouble.

“He jumped in and he was facing the diving board going under the water and flapping his arms,” Briele said of that day.

Sam also noticed something wrong.

“In the beginning, as soon as he jumped off, I thought he was fooling around,” she said. “But then he was trying to tread water, and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, is he OK?’”

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The two girls ran to Briele’s mother for help and she then grabbed the attention of Forget.

Once he was there, Forget had no trouble remembering his training to help rescue the boy.

“The second day [on the job], I was a little nervous that something was going to happen,” noted Forget, “and I talked to my parents that night about it. They were telling me 'don’t worry about it,' but it did happen.

"Thankfully, I had just went through my training, and I had the other guards to help me out, so it worked out really well, or as well as that kind of thing can.”

Forget was near the slides when the incident occurred. He ran to the other side of the pool, jumped in and pulled the boy out. He was responsive and breathing on his own at that point, Forget said.

“Thankfully, he was all right and we were able to get him home,” he said.

Diane Sposato, Briele’s mother, said the girls were shaken up by the ordeal.

“It was the scariest thing I ever witnessed,” acknowledged Sposato. “I’ve been going to the pool my whole life. It was very heroic on their part.”

Jim Cunningham, Verona’s director of community services, credited Forget for making the right moves that day. Cunningham pointed out that it was smart to run around the pool and get nearer to the victim before diving into the water, as it saved time. 

“That’s something that’s drilled into them in training,” Cunningham said.

The incident should act as a warning for everyone who visits the pool to stay vigilant, he observed.

Cunningham estimated that around 80 percent of the time when there’s a problem in the water, someone other than the lifeguard is the first person to notice. That means everyone should be alert, he affirmed.

“I got the phone call myself that there was an issue, and your heart sinks,” Cunningham said. “The guards, they’re young people with a great responsibility. Somebody saw it, the guard reacted, the young man who was in trouble was able to walk away, and the relief on that is amazing. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of the work that they do.”

Email: jongsma@northjersey.com