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Colorado teen died after Phoenix hotel drowning
The teen, identified as 13-year-old Darryl Blackman, was in Phoenix for a football tournament, was in a hotel pool with others when he went underwater. FOX 10's Nicole Garcia spoke with one of the victim's friends, who recounted their efforts to pull Darryl out of the pool.
PHOENIX - A Colorado teen who was in town for a football tournament has died two days after he was pulled from a hotel pool in Phoenix.
The teen, identified as 13-year-old Darryl Blackman, was visiting from Denver with his family. According to a GoFundMe page set up after the drowning, Darryl was part of the Junior Buffs football team.
He and the other players reportedly decided to hop into the pool after a game.
There were several teens in the hotel pool at the time of the incident, and a friend who pulled Darryl from the bottom of the pool spoke with us on May 31 to recount the tragic experience.
"I swam down to the deep end. There was a ledge, and two little girls pointed him out," said Joey Guerrero, who was a friend of Darryl. "He was sitting on his butt, his arms were kind of out and his legs were up. I pulled him to the top and swam to the ledge. Two of my friends were outside of the pool, and they pulled him out."
Guerrero said he is a trained lifeguard, and performed CPR on Darryl. Other adults on scene also performed CPR.
"You just keep hoping to hear that gasp. Didn’t happen. Checked for a pulse. Didn’t happen," said Justin Sanchez.
"I was there my 8th grade year. I played in the same tournament, I had the same coaches as him. So when we were all in the pool, we’d mess around and go underwater to see who could hold their breath the longest," said Joey.
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