Allegheny Township teen rescues his toddler brother from drowning

No one knows who taught Griffin Croney CPR — including Griffin, himself — but everyone is relieved the 13-year-old from Allegheny Township somehow knew how to perform chest compressions.

The teenager on Wednesday rescued his younger brother from drowning.

“He’ll be a hero in my book forever,” said Rich Cantolina, Griffin’s father.

Cantolina said he and his fiancée, Cheri Croney, were running late to take the family dog to a veterinary appointment. Earlier that day, the family with six children had been celebrating 4-year-old Oaklyn’s birthday in the backyard pool of their home in Allegheny Township.

The family’s 17-year-old daughter, Olivia Croney, was still in the pool, supervising Oaklyn and 8-month-old Owyn, who was lying safely in a floaty in the shallow end of the pool.

Cantolina said he made his way upstairs to get changed, passing 2-year-old Cub Cantolina sitting on the couch inside, watching YouTube Kids.

What came next was something Cantolina said will stick with him forever: Olivia’s terrified scream from outside, heard through his open bedroom window.

When the parents reached the pool, Olivia had lifted Cub out of the water. As she cradled him, Cantolina said the toddler’s body had gone limp and his skin was a pale white, with his lips turning blue.

It all happened so fast, Cantolina said.

Before he could even make a move, Griffin sprang into action.

Griffin said he had been sitting on the couch, inside the house when he, too, heard Olivia’s scream. He rushed outside just as his parents had done and saw her holding Cub’s “lifeless” body.

The eighth-grader at Kiski Area Intermediate School scooped his brother out of Olivia’s arms and lay him on the grass next to the pool. Without hesitation, he began performing chest compressions.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Water spurted out of Cub’s mouth and the toddler gasped for air, crying and afraid, but otherwise alert.

“It was just a moment of relief,” Griffin said.

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The family took Cub to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He was alert but still very pale and lethargic, Cantolina said, and they worried there could be unseen complications. No one was sure how much time Cub had been underwater.

“Every person told us that if Griffin and Olivia did not react as fast as they did, then Cub would have died,” Cantolina said.

Cub was kept under observation for 12 hours. No lasting damage or water was found in his lungs, and no other complications emerged.

By Thursday, he was back to running around the house, as he always does, Cantolina said.

Reflecting on how Cub got outside in the first place, Cantolina said it was “like all the stars aligned” in the worst possible way. The in-ground pool is normally well-secured against situations like this. There is a fence around it with a magnetic latch, and a lock blocking off the back deck from the rest of the yard.

Somehow, in the excitement of the afternoon, both gates had been left open.

Cub had wandered outside and down the pool steps, into the shallow end that was still deep for him without floaties. He waded in at just the moment when Olivia’s back was turned away from the steps, Cantolina said. Cub went underwater before his sister even knew he was there.

“Yesterday was my worst fear finally realized,” Cantolina said. “It happens in like a millisecond — even if you have the right gates, the right pools. You can have all your things in order, and it takes a millisecond for a kid to just see water and go for it.”

Cantolina said he wrapped additional bungee cords around the pool’s gates and got new locks for the desk gate. He didn’t sleep Wednesday night, the close call of yesterday still too fresh in his mind. He starts to cry when he looks at Cub.

Their other son’s heroism, though, is also fresh. Cantolina said both he and Cheri Croney know CPR — but neither know where Griffin learned it.

“I don’t know what possessed him to do what he did or how fast he did it,” Cantolina said.

Griffin doesn’t know either.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was just scared when I saw his lifeless body in my sister’s arms.”

Griffin is indifferent to all the attention he has gotten from his family members in the past day. Cantolina said he has been remarkably calm about the entire situation.

“He doesn’t want the recognition,” Cantolina said. “But he is a hero.”