An Arizona native is being hailed a hero in the aftermath of the partial building collapse near Miami, Florida.
He was walking his dog in the area when he spotted the boy in the debris.
"He was just saying, 'please don't leave me, don't leave me,'" says Nicholas Balboa, hero.
Nicholas Balboa kept that promise.
"It sounded like a young boy, he was screaming, and he was sticking his hand up through the rubble," says Balboa.
Balboa made the miraculous discovery after walking around the back of the partially collapsed building in Surfside.
He tried reaching the boy but then signaled police and firefighters over to help.
"The boy said he was 10 years old and that he was buried under there and he was with his mother, who apparently is 53. I wasn't able to hear her, I wasn't able to see her like I was able to see him. But, I hope and pray that she is okay," says Balboa.
The Phoenix native was actually visiting Florida and out walking his dog when this happened.
He initially thought it was a storm rolling in until he felt the ground shake.
"I brought my dog back upstairs, went back down and I could see the plume of dust and debris," says Balboa.
The boy is one of the lucky ones. Crews are continuing to search for others through the rubble.
"Guardian angel. I mean, given the circumstances and the destruction of where he was, he came out unscathed. So, he was very, very lucky and I hope that luck, you know, passes on to his mother... because I couldn't imagine what he's going to go through in this experience," says Balboa.
