Fast actions of Moorhead woman save boy from drowning

MOORHEAD — Ashley Anderson hadn’t planned to go to the pool June 21, but after her daughter begged to go, she gave in.

Today, she thinks a greater power sent her to the Riverside Park wading pool in Moorhead that hot, sunny summer afternoon. As she was setting her stuff down, she looked over and saw a young boy floating facedown in the pool.

Anderson jumped into action — she called 911 as the boy, blue and not breathing, was pulled from the pool. She performed CPR while emergency personnel were on the way, screaming at him to keep breathing, she recalled.

Eventually, he took a huge gasp of air, and Anderson’s tears started flowing.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that something pushed me there that day,” Anderson said.

The brief and adrenaline-fueled encounter was not Anderson’s last wit