BANNING - A man who nearly drowned in a swimming pool was alive today after being revived by a police officer who, playing out of position, reached Banning's Sun Lakes Country Club less than three minutes after getting an emergency call and began administering CPR, authorities said.

Firefighters were sent around 6:20 p.m. Monday to the Sun Lakes Country Club at Sun Lakes Boulevard and Country Club Drive, where Banning police officer Officer Everett Babcock was already administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to authorities.

The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition, said Riverside County Advertisement

[ The Tutoring Center ] Fire Department spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson.

The man was breathing on his own and his vital signs were stable as of 11 p.m. Monday, Officer Rick Youngblood, a Banning police watch commander, said this morning.

Babcock, an eight-year department veteran, was on patrol on the west side of town when he got the call at 6:18 p.m., Youngblood said. He reached the scene in about two-and-a-half minutes, he said.

A school resource officer who happened to be filling in on patrol Monday, Babcock served with the Costa Mesa Police Department prior to joining the Banning force, Youngblood said.