SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A 15-year-old Sioux Falls boy who thought he was staring into the eyes of death Tuesday evening instead is celebrating a life saved today.

Cedrick Hillyer rushed from the Falls Overlook Cafe, where he was hanging out with three friends - John Calhoun, Jameson Haack and Greg Walsworth - and helped pull an unconscious 8-year-old Waverly, Neb., boy, Jonathan Schmucker, from the rushing waters of the Big Sioux.

"If I had thought about it more, I probably never would have jumped in," Cedrick, the son of James Hillyer and Andrea Lundstrom, said Wednesday. "But at the moment, I was so scared; I was more worried about him and just jumped in."

Jonathan, visiting from Nebraska with his family, fell from an overlook near the former Queen Bee Mill around 9 p.m. as he tried to get a closer look at the water, family members have said. He fell in just below the falls and was swept away in the current.

A dozen people were searching from the banks, with another 10 to 15 looking from a bridge over the water, when Cedrick heard people calling: "There he is. There he is."

The sophomore-to-be at Washington High already had discarded his shoes on the chance he'd be stepping off the rocks into the water. He had seen a red object that raised his suspicions but wasn't sure and didn't want to raise hopes if he was wrong.

Now with people on the bridge insisting they saw the boy, Cedrick stepped onto a rock near the water's edge and lowered himself into the current.

It was stronger than any other time he had entered the water at the falls, he said. But Cedrick, submerged to just above his belly button, still was able to move the 6 to 10 feet through it to grab Jonathan, who was floating face down, with only the back of his head and his bright red shirt visible.

Cedrick said he got as much of the boy's body out of the water as he could and handed him to a 33-year-old man from Clintonville, Wis., who was standing on the rock from which Cedrick had lowered himself.

The Wisconsin man in turn handed the child to Calhoun, and they laid his limp body on a rocky ledge.

"I was scared," Cedrick said. "He wasn't breathing. His cheeks were black, his skin purple and pale, and his eyes were wide open. It was like staring into the eyes of death."

With Greg Walsworth holding the child's head, the Wisconsin man began CPR. After a few breaths and a chest compression, the boy began coughing.

The Wisconsin man, whom police have not identified, turned the child over and patted his back, Cedrick recalled. Within seconds, rescue workers were on the scene to assist.

Police spokesman Sam Clemens said in situations such as Tuesday's it's usually best if people call 911 and let police or fire officials handle the rescue.

"We're not going to tell someone, if they see someone in the water, to jump right in after them," he said. "We don't know what skills they have; it might do them more harm than good.

"But in this case, the young man thought it was best to go in after him, and it turns out that was a good decision. In situations like this, people do what they think is best."

Cedrick said the boy's family thanked him and the Wisconsin man after the rescue.

"The mother, I think, (hugged) me and the guy from Wisconsin so hard," he said.

Asked whether he considered himself a hero, the 15-year-old simply shook his head.

"Not really," he finally said. "It's just something I did. That's all."