My Big Brother Saved My Life

It started with a belly flop.

Logan Kapua, 7, was swimming at his grandfather's house with his brother, Lexander, 5, and sister, Leianna, 6, in May.

Logan did his belly flop.

"I don't make that big of a splash," he noted. "My sister does."

Then Lexander copied him. When the younger brother hit the water, he fell out of his floatie and went straight to the bottom of the pool.

Logan was right behind him. It was the middle section, between five and six feet deep, well over both boys' heads.

"He drowned to the bottom," Logan said Thursday, recounting the experience between mouthfuls of vanilla wafers. "I dived in and saved him."

It wasn't exactly that easy.

Though two years older, Logan only has about 10 pounds on his younger sibling, according to his mother.

So it was with considerable difficulty that Logan dragged Lexander to the surface and toward the side of the pool.

"He kept drowning me," Logan said. "I thought I was going to die, too."

Their grandfather, Don Hampton, was in the backyard too. But he has a prosthetic leg and doesn't move as fast as a 7-year-old.

"He can't be as quick as anybody else can," said Kelly Hampton, the boys' mother. "If Logan hadn't been there, I'm sure he would've gotten him, but it would've been longer. He was getting to the edge of the pool as Logan got him up."

Logan reached the side and raised up his arm, and his grandfather lifted both boys to the dry poolside. The entire incident took only a few seconds.

It's had people talking ever since.

First, word spread through Logan's Cub Scout pack, and he was nominated for a Boy Scout Heroism Award, which he received in October. He also was awarded a Youth Good Samaritan Award from the Red Cross.

On Thursday Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman recognized him with a commendation.

Like any kid, Logan seemed more interested in cookies and trading arm punches with his brother than retelling a story of something that happened in May.

At the time, though, he knew what he was doing, said his mother: "He told me he loves his brother and he didn't want him to die."

Logan had just learned to swim at the time. Lexander was still learning, and the family put him on a fast track after the incident.

Lexander didn't mind. Neither of them, in fact, expressed any fear of the water afterward.

"They were wanting to go right back in the next day," Kelly Hampton said.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.