Officer rescues girl from rushing river
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: July 31, 2009
PERKINSVILLE — A police officer's heroism saved a girl from a rain-swollen river Thursday night.
As he was tied to a rope held by firefighters on the shore, State Police Senior Trooper Jonathan Graham stepped into the rapidly rushing Black River to save a 17-year-old Cuttingsville girl who had chosen the wrong day to go tubing.
Actually, he did it four times.
"The first three times, the water knocked me down, but the fourth time I was able to reach her and put a jacket on her," Graham said.
Around 5 p.m., Graham said, a young woman in her late teens or early 20s flagged down Chester Police Chief Richard Cloud as he drove along Route 106 north of the village of Perkinsville. The young woman, a man about the same age from Perkinsville and the girl trapped in the water had all decided to go tubing.
The tubers were not wearing life jackets, Graham said, and the Black River was flowing higher and faster than normal after heavy rain the day before. Two of the tubers made it to shore safely but the girl was stuck on a shoal 50 feet from shore, about two-tenths of a mile upstream from where the highway crosses the river.
Graham said the Hartford Swift Water Rescue Team was called to assist, but as rescuers stood on the shore, they watched the girl begin to lose her footing.
Wearing a life jacket and tied to a rope anchored by members of the Weathersfield Fire Department, Graham stepped out into the charging waist-deep current, and after four attempts he reached the girl.
"The girl absolutely could not swim," Graham said. "She told me she was sure she was going to die."
Graham, who previously served in the U.S. Coast Guard, said he has taken part in a number of water rescues, but never in swift water conditions such as those he encountered Thursday.
Members of Golden Cross Ambulance treated the girl at the scene. She refused additional medical attention. Springfield Police also assisted at the scene.
Graham urged boaters and tubers to use proper gear and assess the level before getting on the water.
"We're just asking people to use common sense out there," he said.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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