photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Maddox Westerhaus, second from right, and Thomas Westerhaus, third from right, were honored in 2022 by Lawrence first responders for saving 4-year-old Xzavier Rigney from drowning over the summer. Xzavier is at center with his mother, Alexis Rigney. John Mathis, Nick Simon, Rob Fleeup and Kevin Joles, all with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, surround the families, left to right.

Story updated at 3:09 p.m. Thursday:

Lawrence police and firefighters paid tribute Thursday to a pair of Lawrence residents who saved a 4-year-old from drowning earlier this month.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and the Lawrence Police Department responded to a drowning call at a local apartment complex on May 18. According to authorities, a 12-year-old, Maddox Westerhaus, noticed a small child floating in the pool at the complex and alerted Maddox’s father, Thomas Westerhaus. The father jumped the locked fence, pulled the unresponsive child from the pool and administered life-saving aid. The 4-year-old, Xzavier Rigney, was breathing and alert when paramedics arrived.

First responders on Thursday presented the Westerhaus family with certificates recognizing their life-saving actions. Xzavier and his mother, Alexis Rigney, also attended the event, which, in addition to honoring the life-savers, was meant to raise awareness about water safety as the holiday weekend approaches.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Thomas Westerhaus, left, and Maddox Westerhaus hold their Hometown Hero certificates Thursday at Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical headquarters. The two were honored for saving a 4-year-old from drowning at a Lawrence apartment complex.

Alexis said she didn’t think that Xzavier, who has autism and is nonverbal, knew how to get out of their home on his own. But she said that on the day of the incident, she went to check on Xzavier and saw that he wasn’t in his room, and when she searched the rest of the home, she saw that the front door was open.

As she walked outside, she said, she could hear sirens.

“Fire department and paramedics went to the back of the building, so I followed them and Xzavier was being pulled out of the pool,” she said. “But I didn’t see him moving, so I didn’t know he was OK at the time.”

Thomas said that when Maddox first alerted him, he didn’t realize the severity of the situation. But he said that when he actually saw Xzavier in the water, he just started to act, and the rest was just a blur.

“I’ve had CPR training, but it had been over 15 years probably since I’ve had it, and I just remembered the chest compressions in the water and everything, so it just somehow came out the back of my mind,” Thomas said.

video by: Lawrence Police Department

Surveillance video of Lawrence resident Thomas Westerhaus rescuing 4-year-old Xzavier Rigney from a pool.

Alexis said she was just thankful that Xzavier was OK.

“He is my best friend, and I don’t know what I would do without him,” Alexis said.

During the press conference on Thursday, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Lt. Jeff Krall, who lost a child to drowning in 2008, said that drowning deaths are preventable. He said many people aren’t properly educated about how to keep themselves and their families safe around water.

Part of this, Krall said, is because many people don’t recognize what drowning actually looks like.

“The victims do not have the ability to scream when they’re drowning and don’t have the ability to splash their arms like you see on TV,” he said.

Krall said that young children or others who can’t swim should wear life vests. Families in need of child-sized life vests have a chance to pick one up for free at the Clinton State Park office on Saturday, May 28, where Safe Kids Douglas County will have 50 life jackets and 100 bike helmets to give out. The distribution starts at 8 a.m.