Woodbury teen awarded for pulling unconscious child from pool, saving her life

A Woodbury teenager whose quick thinking saved a 10-year-old girl from drowning in a backyard pool was recognized last week by the Woodbury City Council.

The dramatic incident took place on May 24, just a few weeks after Chizim Abagi, 18, had recently returned home from his freshman year at the University of Texas at Arlington. A family friend and her 10-year-old daughter were visiting the Abagi family home that day; Chizim was relaxing in his bedroom watching YouTube videos while his mother, Lynda, entertained the guests in the backyard.

"I asked the mother if her daughter could swim, and she said, 'Yes,'" Lynda Abagi said. She said the girl swam for 10 minutes but then attempted to jump from the edge of the pool into a floating ring. When she missed, she started to panic, and Lynda Abagi and the girl's mother watched helplessly as the girl went under.

Neither of the women can swim, and in their panic they reached for something to stick into the water to reach the girl.

"At that point, we were so afraid we weren't even thinking right," said Lynda Abagi, a nurse who runs a group home in Woodbury.

At some point, she screamed for help, and her 21-year-old son, Azonim, ran to get Chizim, who took swimming lessons as a child and considers himself a strong swimmer. Told the girl was drowning, Chizim ran to the pool and dove in, fully clothed. By then, the girl was unconscious at the bottom of the pool.

The girl woke up after five to 10 seconds of CPR by her mother, who also is a nurse, Abagi said. The 18-year-old Cretin-Derham Hall graduate said he didn't feel like he did anything special afterward.

"I just felt like I did what I had to do," he said.

Citing his lifesaving dive into the pool, the Woodbury City Council on Wednesday awarded Abagi the Community Member Lifesaving Award.

Lynda Abagi said the girl, who was visiting from Texas, has fully recovered from her drowning scare.