California – AFSCME Staffer Rescues Boy

Long Beach, California

Doug Moore Jr., 50, an assistant to the AFSCME regional director in the West, who is based in Oakland, is being credited with saving the life of 2-year-old Kevin Anthony Spears in June when the child wandered away from his grandmother, Dolores Spears.

Moore and his 3-year-old granddaughter had been invited by Dolores to attend a birthday party for another child at a local park. Near the party's conclusion, Moore saw Kevin Anthony about 100 yards away, chasing ducks into a pond. "I just took off running."

The boy fell into the water and went under. Moore jumped in and rescued him. "I turned him on his stomach, across my forearm, and gave him compressions on his back. That's when he started coughing up water and breathing."

Both mother and granddaughter praised Moore. In a letter to AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee, grandmother Dolores wrote: "One takes a 'measure of a man' in so many different ways. My measure of Doug Moore is unsung hero and I felt someone should sing his song."

Grateful for a Hero | Kevin Anthony Spears, 2, was saved from drowning by the fast action of AFSCME employee Doug Moore, shown here with the boy’s grandmother, Dolores, far left, and his mother, Cynthia Spears. Photo: KortKnee Spears