Eleven-year-old Roman Ross looks like most kids at his Denver middle school, but fearless actions over the summer set him apart Monday.
Roman, a sixth-grader at Hill Middle School, was recognized Monday morning by police, the community, classmates and school staff members as a hero who saved another boy from near drowning.
“He’s not the type of boy to brag,” said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman. “We’re here to brag for him.”
Whitman presented Roman with a Denver police baseball cap and a bag of other goodies and shook the boy’s hand. He encouraged Roman to join the force when he turns 21.
Roman recalled the July 21 incident for his schoolmates and the adults.
He was at his apartment-complex pool with a water gun as two other boys played in the shallow end of the pool, where the water is 3 feet deep.
Suddenly, one of the two boys was in the deep water, flailing and gasping for air.
“I jumped in and pulled up his face, and his eyes were closed,” he recalled.
“Help! Help! Help!” Roman said he cried out as he pulled the 12-year-old boy out of the pool.
An adult helped Roman revive the boy.
“When he came back to life, he was just shaking, and he scared me,” Roman said.
Roman’s “extreme bravery” and “quick actions” probably saved the boy’s life and were an “impressive feat for someone his age,” said Detective Ken Klaus, who presented Roman with a plaque.
Linda Childears, president and chief executive of the Daniels Fund, a billion-dollar foundation left by the late cable entrepreneur Bill Daniels, also presented Roman with a plaque — which the fund sweetened with a check. As Childears whispered the amount in Roman’s ear, his eyes grew wide, and he mouthed, “Wow!”
Herston Ross, Roman’s dad, said his son swims like a “dolphin.”
“He just swims circles around me,” the proud father said, smiling.
Ross said he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years and that he joined, in part, to save lives.
“I always wondered what it would be like to . . . save someone’s life,” Herston Ross said. “Now, I know how it feels” through Roman.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@
