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9-year-old girl saves classmate's life at Raleigh pool party

Katherine McMillan noticed her classmate Timothy Scofield was motionless at the bottom of a pool. She dove down and lifted him to the surface of the water.

Posted Updated

By
Adam Owens
, WRAL anchor/reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — The quick actions of a 9-year-old girl helped save her classmate’s life last weekend at a kids’ pool party.

On July 23, Katherine McMillan noticed Timothy Scofield was motionless at the bottom of the pool.

“I just saw him and looked at him for a couple seconds and thought, ‘He has not come up for a while,’” Katherine said. “So, I dove down there, and pulled him by his left arm and pulled him up to the surface.”

Katherine’s efforts helped prevent Timothy from drowning. The boy does not know how to swim.

“I just pulled him as hard as I [could],” Katherine said. “When I pulled him up, I saw his lips were purple and blue.

“His eyes were closed and he was just not moving.”

Several people helped lift Timothy out of the pool, and the homeowner began performing CPR on the boy.

“I was just holding Timothy’s hand and trying to talk to him while the host was doing CPR,” said Frida Scofield, the boy’s mother.

Katherine said multiple parents performed CPR on Timothy Scofield. She also said people around the pool were crying.

“They were pounding him so hard,” she said of the CPR efforts.

It took a while for the CPR to take effect.

“It was frantic and hectic,” recalled Ryan Scofield, the boy’s father.

The couple had planned to get their son swimming lessons, but it got delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I forgot his life vest that morning, and I should have taken the extra 30 minutes to go back and get it,” Frida Scofield said.

Frida Scofield explained what her son was doing in the pool before the incident.

“Timothy was going a great job just walking around the pool and staying in the shallow end because he knew he could not swim and knew it was dangerous,” Frida Scofield said.

Katherine McMillan’s grandmother took her to the pool party. Corey McMillan, the girl’s father, recalled how he was told the story of what happened.

“I said, ‘Mom, is Katherine ok?’” Corey McMillan said. “There was a pause, and then she said, ‘Oh, yes. Katherine is fine.’

“And, I said, ‘Next time, can you please start with that?’”

Katherine McMillan said she was proud of herself for her life-saving efforts. Corey McMillan also said he was proud of his daughter.

“You can’t imagine how I would have reacted in that situation if that had been her at the bottom of the pool,” Corey McMillan said. “It was an awful feeling. I would not wish that upon anyone.”

Timthony Scofield spent the night of July 23 in the ICU.

The parents said the boy is doing well, but he is scared to be around pools.

“He is doing really well,” Frida Scofield said of her son. “He is back to his normal self.”

On Tuesday, Timothy Scofield turned 9.

“There are not words to say how thankful we are,” Ryan Scofield said.

Ryan Scofield said he was appreciative of everyone’s efforts to save his son’s life.

“Everyone [was] just kind of doing the right thing at the right time,” Ryan Scofield said.

Frida Scofield echoed her husband’s sentiments.

“There is nothing I can possibly say to adequately say how thankful I am,” Frida Scofield said.

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