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Map of Lexington, Kentucky

kindness

The adults froze, so an 11-year-old made the rescue

Lexington, Kentucky · 7 July 2026

An 11-year-old boy pulled an unconscious man from the bottom of an apartment pool in Lexington, Kentucky, on Wednesday evening, after the adults around him did not move. Avory Woolery spotted the man underwater and waited a beat for someone to act. No one did. "No one was doing anything, so I put on my goggles. I went underwater," he said. "I grabbed him up and I just felt really bad because there was no way that I was going to let another man die today. He's a human being. He should be treated as such." Avory hauled the man to the surface and onto the deck, where a friend began CPR and someone called 911. The Lexington Fire Department said the man was taken to a hospital in serious condition. Avory's father, Sean, said a stranger stopped him on the way in. "Somebody said, 'Thank you, you taught him how to swim.'"

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