Struggling Tot Plucked from Pool by Off-Duty Border Patrol Agent

Supervisor Border Patrol Agent William Rogers spoke with NBC 7 in an exclusive interview

An unconscious toddler at the bottom of a pool was rescued Monday by his mother and an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent, officials said.

The two-year-old boy was not breathing when he was pulled from the bottom of the community pool in Imperial Beach.

Supervisor Border Patrol Agent William Rogers spoke with NBC 7 in an exclusive interview and said when a terrible accident happens it's not unusual for people to get tunnel vision.

Rogers and the boy's mother jumped into the pool to help the child. He says even though he yelled for people to call 911, a paralyzing panic seemed to sweep over even the adults.

"When it's your child and you're right in it it's very paralyzing if you haven't done it before," he explained.

The boy had a pulse so Rogers used his training as a certified EMT to clear the boy's lung of water, officials said. 

"Then he started to vomit a little bit got a little water out, he started to cry," Rogers said.

The toddler regained consciousness and emergency personnel arrived to treat him.

Rogers was with his daughter at the pool when the girl noticed the motionless toddler in the water and alerted her father, according to the U.S Border Patrol.

Officials say the childโ€™s mother also jumped into the pool to save her son.

The agent understands the tunnel vision effect. But as a former navy sailor, police officer, firefighter and paramedic, he knew snapping out of it could mean saving the boy's life.

Even though it may seem like he was a super hero that day, Rogers said in reality he did what anyone else can do - administer basic CPR and call 911.

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