Video shows girl being treated after near-drowning

A cellphone video of a teenage girl being resuscitated after a near-drowning at Cape Splash on Monday was beginning to go viral on social media Tuesday.

In response to the incident, several were questioning whether lifeguards reacted appropriately when a teenager, who apparently could not swim, waded into the deep end of a 9-foot pool.

The video captured Terrell Butler Sr. performing CPR on the girl, but the footage did not include what happened prior to Butler's involvement in the rescue.

Butler declined to comment Monday immediately after the incident and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His daughter said the description of an aquatic supervisor saying lifeguards on duty "followed emergency protocol to the T" was not accurate.

In a Facebook message to the Southeast Missourian, Breaunte Butler, who is Terrell Butler's daughter, said her father didn't want to comment until the teenager was out of the hospital and doing OK. But she characterized the situation as her father jumping in when the lifeguards didn't handle the situation properly. Butler Sr. studied paramedic/EMT at Three Rivers College, according to his Facebook page.

In the video, lifeguards can be seen assisting with compressions.

Emergency responders were called about 4 p.m. Monday, when a teenage girl was pulled out of the deep end of a pool on a busy Labor Day afternoon -- the last of the season for Cape Splash.

Julia Thompson, the city's parks and recreation director, said Tuesday lifeguards at the scene retrieved the girl from the pool's bottom and started performing CPR and chest compressions on her.

It's unclear how long the victim was underwater, but a statement issued later by Nicolette Brennan of the city's communications department said she was unresponsive at first.

"At 4 p.m. on Labor Day at Cape Splash, a teenage girl entered the 9-foot-deep section of the pool but did not return immediately to the surface," Brennan's email stated. "Lifeguards responded in seconds to rescue her from the bottom of the pool."

Added Thompson: "She was resuscitated by the time the EMTs got there."

It is unclear where the girl was taken for treatment or how she is doing, as city staff cited health privacy laws.

Mark Starnes, battalion chief at the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, said by the time emergency responders arrived from the fire department, she "was alert and screaming."

"Lifeguards had her revived by the time we got there," Starnes said.

Terrell Butler pitched in before the official EMTs arrived.

On Butler's personal Facebook page, he wrote that "accidents can happen to anyone at any time. No one is to blame. Let's all thank God (the victim) is OK. God is the only hero because he placed us all in the right place at the right time."

The video posted online by Butler's son-in-law shows the victim lying still at the side of the pool surrounded by lifeguards. As one begins doing chest compressions, Butler, who was standing nearby, jumps in and begins CPR. After that, the lifeguards appear to stand back while he works, then the video narrator says, "I think he got her. I think he got her back, y'all. ... Thank you, Jesus!"

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The Facebook video of efforts at Cape Splash to resuscitate the girl:

(function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-video" data-allowfullscreen="1" data-href="/clayborn.djchedda/videos/vb.100001549356472/929959037065733/?type=1"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><blockquote cite=""><a href=""></a><p>Yall please say a prayer for this young lady and her family she just drowned and my father n law is trying to revive her he is in the blue shirt yall please this is so sad if believe God has all power please say amen....I would also like to give a special shout out to Terrell Butler Sr. for doing such a wonderful job performing CPR...Thanks Pops U A Real Hero Dude!!!</p>Posted by <a href="">Clayborn Bass DjChedda</a> on Monday, September 7, 2015</blockquote></div></div>