Sunday, July 04, 1999
River rescuer saves boy
4-year-old out of hospital after close call
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dan Michael
|
As the 4-year-old boy he was holding coughed and began to cry Saturday afternoon, Dan Michael hauled himself out of the Ohio River and grinned.
He knew that the boy, who had floated limp in his arms just seconds earlier, would be OK. He expected that the all-American holiday weekend he and his friends had planned would proceed uninterrupted: boating, a Reds game, fireworks.
But he didn't want to admit that he was a hero.
Mr. Michael, a 46-year-old General Electric facility maintenance supervisor from Camden, spotted the boy — Tanner Helmbright — floating in the Ohio River about 15 feet away from the public boat dock near Cinergy Field where the boy had been playing.
At first he thought the boy was having fun. But as his small body rolled onto its stomach and began to sink into the 27-foot-deep river, Mr. Michael knew better.
“He was down maybe a foot — that's when I jumped in after him,” Mr. Michael said. “Everybody would've done it. It's no big deal.”
A crowd of onlookers thought otherwise. They applauded Mr. Michael along with Rick Taylor of Petersburg, Ky., who hoisted the boy out of the water and onto the dock.
Mr. Taylor's wife, Cheryl, was among the first to spot the boy and ran to call 911.
“I panicked. I looked for a life preserver and I couldn't find one — even with all these boats,” she said. “I was freaking out, but he (Mr. Michael) was right there to help.”
Onlookers said the boy had been on a houseboat with relatives. Their home town was not available. He was not wearing a life preserver.
Mr. Michael, who has two grown children and used to be a Preble County sheriff's deputy, said he couldn't help but think the worst when he saw the boy floating by.
“I'm terrified still. My heart's racing 100 miles per hour because that little boy could have died,” he said about a half-hour later.
The boy was treated at Children's Hospital and released.
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