Tempe high school student honored for saving girl from drowning

TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A Tempe high school student was honored for his heroic efforts after saving a girl from drowning at his apartment complex pool last month. On Thursday, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, firefighters and employees from Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital gave Riley Flippo the citizen’s award for his life-saving actions. “Thanks to Riley’s swift efforts, the girl was breathing again when TFR (Tempe Fire and Rescue) arrived. The patient has a good prognosis thanks to Riley’s actions on this day,” said Mayor Woods.

On May 7, the 17-year-old says he was taking out the trash when he heard screaming from the pool area. “I went over to go check it out and apparently there was a mom halfway into the pool trying to get in, but she couldn’t really swim. She was screaming very loud. I got really close and I realized someone was drowning at the 9 foot deep end all the way at the bottom,” he explained. Flippo says someone jumped the fence and pulled the girl out of the water, but they ran into a problem. “No one else knew CPR but me, so I took the opportunity and I went in and started conducting CPR on the girl who was just taken out of the water. She was unresponsive for about a minute and 30 seconds, but then she woke up,” he said.

Flippo had just learned CCR, cardio cerebral resuscitation, during his health class two months prior. Rebecca Taylor and Sheila Bryant were the two emergency personnel who taught Flippo’s class. “It’s a huge victory for us. As firefighters, when there’s someone on scene that can start compressions, it makes our job easier. It’s inspirational to continue to teach and get CCR to as many people as possible because it does save lives. We tell the students the most important thing to do is chest compressions,” said Taylor. St. Luke’s and Tempe Fire have taught over 30,000 students CCR in the last 11 years.

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