Houston man saves stranger who was drowning in Blue Lagoon

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KTRK) -- Michael Payton says he was in the right place at the right time when he heard someone yelling for help at the Blue Lagoon near Huntsville.

He had just finished a swim, and was taking a video on his phone of the water when he heard it.

"I started recording and then I heard yelling. When I put the phone down, that's when I heard, 'Help' and I knew it was serious," said Payton.

Payton jumped back in the water to save the man he says he saw drowning.

"The minute I got to him he was going for his last breath and I grabbed him right before he went under water," said Payton. "As he's going under I grabbed him, and if it was a second or a few seconds later he would've been under."

He brought the man to shore.

Payton said, "When I got him to the end I said, 'Are you ok?' He said, 'Yes, thank you.' I said, 'Well, I have to wait out here for a moment anyway because I have to regain my breath, because I swam back and forth.'"

Payton didn't catch the man's name, but did take a picture with him. It was Payton's first time at the Blue Lagoon. It was a trip that turned into him being a hero for a stranger.

"I look at life a lot differently because life could be gone in one second and one moment," said Payton.

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