MULLICA RESIDENTS HONORED FOR RESCUING DROWNING BOY

By ROB SPAHR, Staff Writer, 609-272-7283, from The Press of Atlantic City, 6/26/2009

MULLICA TOWNSHIP - The last thing 6-year-old Johnathan Cordero remembers before his near-death experience is playing a game with his T-ball teammates in a pool at a party June 6.

To play the game, called "Dead Man Floating," one swimmer floats face-down in the water and other swimmers try to save him.

When it was Cordero's turn to play dead, no one saved him in time and he sank to the bottom of the pool.

The next thing he remembers is seeing the faces of off-duty state Department of Human Services Officer Paul Rivera and Kim Butterhof, the mother of one of his teammates.

Rivera, an assistant coach for the T-ball team, walked past the pool to check on his own children when he noticed Cordero at the bottom of the pool.

"I figured it was something to do with the game all the kids were playing, but then I just felt like something was wrong," Rivera said.

Rivera jumped into the in-ground pool and swam to Cordero.

"When I got to him, I knew there was a problem because he didn't react at all," Rivera said. "There should've been some kind of reaction."

Rivera scooped Cordero's "still and lifeless" body to the surface, where Butterhof was waiting to help lift the boy out of the pool.

"Most of the other parents were busy making sure their own kids were safe and trying to get the rest of the kids in the house," Rivera said. "I was so happy to see Kim standing there, because I wouldn't have been able to get Johnathan out of the pool fast enough if I had to do it by myself."

Butterhof, an administrative assistant for a construction company, learned how to perform CPR as part of a massage-therapy course she took last year.

"On the Friday before the party, they asked everyone in my office if anyone was certified in CPR. I said, 'I am, not that I'll ever need it for anything,'" said Butterhof, who already knew both her children were safe prior to the rescue. "But little did I know that 24 hours later, I'd be using it."

Butterhof immediately started to do chest compressions and Riveria assisted with the CPR counts.

"All of a sudden, I saw Johnathan's eyes open and he started vomiting up the water," Rivera said. "I've never been so happy to have someone throw up on me."

Cordero's mother, Debra Griffin, was not at the party but her husband, Al, called to tell her to get to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Mainland Campus, right away.

"When I got there, he was alert and talkative, like nothing had happened," Griffin said. "I didn't know whether to hug him or to scold off for playing a game he shouldn't have been. Hugs won."

Griffin said she would be eternally grateful for the quick-thinking of Rivera and Butterhof.

"There is not enough thanks in the world," she said. "Without them, Johnathan would not be here."

Johnathan got a chance to thank his rescuers when they met Thursday at a park.

Rivera and Butterhof received awards for their heroism from the Police Department and Township Committee.

"For us, as police officers in a rural town, we are often a couple seconds too late getting to things like this that occur," said Detective Sgt. John Thompson Jr., adding the township is so vast and rural that it can sometimes take officers five or 10 minutes to respond to a call. "We felt it was appropriate to recognize the efforts of these two people, which resulted in such a positive outcome - Johnathan's life."

The state's Department of Children and Families announced a public awareness campaign last month called "Not Even for a Second," which urges parents and caretakers to pay close attention to children near water and to child-proof swimming pools.

"Summer should be a fun time for families. But caregivers must be on constant watch with children around water," Department of Children and Families Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts said in a news release. "If someone isn't paying close attention, instead of making summer memories to last a lifetime - you have lost a life."

E-mail Robert Spahr:

RSpahr@pressofac.com