While passing the boat ramp at Pomme de Terre Lake, a man noticed a stroller wheel spinning above the water. Next to it, he saw gray hair floating. At 64 years old, he had a bad knee and a sore back, but he jumped off his motorcycle and ran into the water. The ramp dropped off quickly, and he found himself six feet out, unable to touch the bottom. He spotted a grandmother face down, clutching the stroller handle, unconscious, with the stroller upside down and a two-year-old still strapped inside.
He tried to pull the stroller free, but nothing happened. The harness strap had gotten caught on rebar in the concrete, causing the whole thing to sink further each time he pulled. He shouted for help. A friend, known as Tank, who weighed 300 pounds, entered the water along with Dutch and Rooster, who also joined in despite their boots. Tank dove down with a knife, while the man held the grandmother’s head above water. Rooster yelled for someone onshore to call 911. Though it felt like a long time, it was only around forty seconds before the strap finally released. Dutch turned the stroller over, revealing the face of a tiny girl in a pink jacket with blue lips. They managed to drag both the grandmother and the child onto the ramp.
Dutch, who had experience as a medic in the Army, began performing CPR on the child. The grandmother coughed up water and woke up, but instead of reaching for her granddaughter, she grabbed the man’s vest and looked past him toward the water. She shouted that her grandson, Caleb, had been with her and was missing. The man then noticed a small blue cap floating about twenty feet away. There had been another child the whole time, and nobody had seen him.
He asked the grandmother how old Caleb was and had to shake her to get her attention. She said he was six and couldn’t swim, explaining that he must have gone after the stroller. The man was already moving again. Meanwhile, another friend, Shorty, who had stayed with the motorcycles, yelled to someone on the phone about the second child in the water. Dutch continued counting during CPR.
The man re-entered the cold lake, which felt freezing in late October. Rooster swam in beside him, while Tank struggled knee-deep in the water, catching his breath from coming in multiple times. The man shouted for everyone to spread out and feel with their feet, as visibility was poor. He dove underwater, but only saw murky brown. After several attempts, his knee ached and his boots felt heavy with water. Rooster surfaced without finding anything. That’s when the man noticed the dock nearby.
The marina had a floating dock alongside the ramp. He saw the cap had drifted against it. Suddenly, he heard a faint sound beneath the dock, resembling a child who had cried out of breath. He yelled for everyone to look under the dock and began pulling himself along its edge. He reached the spot, took a deep breath, and dove under. He described the darkness there, where the boards blocked the light, creating a pocket of air that smelled foul.
What would you do in a situation like this?
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Source: bikersbyte.com, by David Hog