Good Samaritan saves young boy drowning at Gastonia hotel

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Corey Bennett

A good Samaritan shared his story with FOX 46 on Wednesday after he saved the life of a young boy who was drowning in a hotel pool, jumping in to get the boy and performing CPR until paramedics arrived.

Around 5:15 p.m. police were called to the Days Inn hotel in the 1700 block of N. Chester Street for a possible drowning, according to Gaston County Emergency Services. 

A witness on scene told FOX 46 that a young child fell into the pool.

The good Samaritan, Corey Bennett, reportedly saw the incident from inside his hotel room and ran to the pool. 

“A kid was drowning and when they pulled him out of the pool, I just started doing CPR," Bennett said. 

The witness said Bennett pulled the child out of the pool and started to perform CPR.

Bennett, a demolition expert from High Point, North Carolina said he ran from his room to the pool when he saw the child was in trouble but when he got there the boy’s lips were already purple.

“It was a split second, it happened so fast, it wasn’t nobody’s fault, it wasn’t nothing about bad parenting," he said. 

As EMS was arriving the boy was revived and seemed to be OK, and he was awake when being taken to Gaston Memorial Hospital. 

“I just did what I feel like any human should do. Like, anybody out here that’s certified you shouldn’t freeze up under that pressure, you shouldn’t stop. If you can save someone’s life you should save it, period," he said. 

Bennett hopes to get an update on the child's condition. It's not clear who's care the child was in at the time of the incident or if anyone will face charges.