9-Year-Old Boy Pulled From Hopkinton Lake By 'A Great Citizen'

HOPKINTON (CBS) -- A boy was rushed to the hospital after he was pulled from the water near Sandy Beach in Hopkinton. First responders arrived at Lake Maspenok around 5 p.m. Sunday and the nine-year-old child was found 11 minutes later.

"Lifesaving measures began immediately due to the presence of all the resources that were on scene at the time," said Police Deputy Chief Joseph Bennett.

A small community cookout was taking place at the time and many people from the surrounding area jumped into action to help find the boy.

"I was one of the many neighborhood people in the water looking for him. We didn't have much to go by, we just heard a woman saying, 'My son! My son is in the water," recalled Jason Ferreira.

"I don't know how a gentleman saw him because the water was deep and it was dark but he was able to see him somehow and drag him up," he said.

Police Chief Edward Lee said, "It was a hero, a great citizen that sprung into action along with others and was able to locate him about 50 meters offshore."

The boy was taken to Milford Hospital and then med-flighted to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

"Great work, can't say it enough. They were able to get a pulse on him and he's still being treated at this time. And all we can do is say a prayer for him now," Lee said.

There was no lifeguard on duty at the time.

"It happened so fast I think everybody was just sort of in survival mode and doing what they can to help the kid," said Ferreira. "I know the children were upset to see it because it happened so fast, a lot of the kids were instructed to stay on shore while we went out to try to figure out what was going on, see if we could find someone. A lot of kids in the neighborhood had a wakeup call today."