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Quick-Thinking Officers Save Child From Drowning

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The officers were off-duty at the Trellis Pointe Apartments when they saw the child in trouble.(WRAL-TV5 News)
HOLLY SPRINGS — A 4-year-old girl is alive after two off-duty police officers rescued her from drowning in a Holly Springs swimming pool.

Officers Robert Parrish and Thomas Pierrie were at the Trellis Point Apartments around 4 p.m. Wednesday when they saw a child splashing in the pool.

"All you could see was the little girl's head. You could see some movement in her arms. However, she was going down," Pierrie says.

The men jumped in and pulled Anna Bowden out of the water and performed CPR while her 6-year-old cousin stood nearby.

"He wasn't trying to notify anybody that she had fallen into the pool or anything. He was in shock," Pierrie says.

The officers left the children in the custody of Anna's father, who lives in a different home. Elizabeth Bowden, Anna's mother, met the two officers for the first time on Thursday. She says she was thankful that the two officers were there and were able to act quickly.

"If they weren't there, I wouldn't have my baby here," she says.

Holly Springs Chief Cecil Parker says authorities are conducting a routine investigation to see if there is any reason to pursue charges of child neglect. No such charges have been made.

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