Cops: Teen saves boy, 11, from drowning

A quick-thinking 16-year-old Huntington Station boy helped save an 11-year-old boy who appeared to be drowning in the deep end of a backyard pool Monday, hoisting him out of the water so he could be revived.

"I was more scared and trying to help him out than a hero," said Jalen Sair, who rescued Chris Walker of Huntington Station after he spotted him not moving at the bottom of the pool during a party for about 15 children.

Jalen's cousin, Dominick Sair, 23, of 50 Clinton Ave., Huntington, who was hosting the party, and uncle, Patrick Sair, 51, of Melville, performed CPR on the boy after the teenager pulled him from the bottom by clutching his T-shirt about 12:30 p.m.

Chris, who will enter fifth grade at Flower Hill Elementary School in the fall, was doing well last night at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, said his mother, Terrian Walker.

Earlier, she had told Patrick Sair that her son was alert but hungry.

Police and witnesses said the scare had sparked panic at the party. Jalen, who was floating on an inflatable raft at the time, jumped into action when another partygoer, Tyler Marion, 14, screamed, "Get him!" while pointing at Chris.

Chris had turned purple -- and his stomach was bloated with swallowed water.

After a short period of CPR, Chris began to take breaths in irregular spurts and then threw up the water he had swallowed.

Officers with the Second Precinct and members of the Huntington Fire Department and Huntington Community First Aid Squad were sent to the scene and took the boy to the hospital, but he was breathing on his own by the time they arrived, said Brian Riggs, chief of the fire department.

"Those kids did a great job of pulling him out of the pool and getting him breathing," said Riggs. "They deserve a lot of credit."

Patrick Sair, who knew Chris' mother through church and invited the boy to the party, said, "You take your eye off for one second -- it's the timing that's important . . . that, and God."

He added: "He was in my care, so I thank God I was able to be there for him."