Couple recounts water rescue from Riverfest opening night on Facebook

Couple recounts water rescue from Riverfest opening night on Facebook

Couple recounts water rescue from Riverfest opening night on Facebook

A couple sprung into action late Friday night while waiting to see the Riverfest opening night fireworks display.

Anna Callon writes on Facebook (sic), “We were talking about how scary that is and how fast the water is moving and how it would pull anyone under and they would die. While we were sitting there a lady tried to get on the dock and didn’t see that the sidewalk drops off into the river and she fell in and went under, before I knew what had happened Devin had already gotten up to help pull her out but then she was choking so I got up to run and help her but he started (resuscitation efforts) on her and she coughed up some water and then she said she was ok.”

The emergency was called into Sedgwick County dispatch as a submersion with the address of a nearby apartment complex given to 911 operators.

Callon, who is expecting, writes that her husband was able to pull the child to safety — but not without causing her intense worry.

She writes, “Devin’s adrenaline allowed him to pretty much throw the kid back up on the sidewalk and once he got to the wall he was able to get out too, I looked up and saw another person in the water but hanging onto the dock and people on the dock were able to pull her back up.”

The Arkansas River downtown has been swollen due to heavy rains in May. Sedgwick County reports the M.S. Mitchell Floodway (the Big Ditch) has helped prevent flooding in Sedgwick County. Completed in 1959, it spans 18 miles long with 50 miles of connecting channels, containing 100 miles of levees and 150 control structures.

NOTE:  Medical organizations say the Heimlich maneuver quoted in the Facebook post should not be used on near-drowning victims because the benefit is unproven and it may cause serious complications or death.

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