Two Grand Forks AFB members save life in near-drowning incident

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Susan L. Davis
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Officer Robert Hadley, a police officer with the 319th Security Forces Squadron here, wasn't expecting the kind of excitement he saw on June 21, 2014, when he went with his wife and five boys to a family reunion at Turtle River State Park.

He was watching one of his children play near the picnic shelter there when he said he noticed a commotion about 200 feet away near the dam by the CCC Memorial Picnic area.

"I ran down to see what was going on, and saw a young lady who had apparently washed over the dam, hit her head and lost consciousness," he said. "She had dirt clogged in her nostrils, she had lost a lot of color, and didn't appear to be breathing."

Hadley, a Columbus, Ga., native who has been with the 319th SFS for about six years, said his Emergency Medical Technician instincts kicked in, and he began to check the victim's vital signs. He then looked for any trace of spinal fluid coming out of the victim's ears while another witness performed a sternum rub to check for responsiveness.

"It looked like she had washed down the river about 50 feet and got carried up the bank," Hadley said. "When she eventually came around, she coughed up about a cup of water. We treated her for shock and stayed with her until the park rangers arrived on the scene."

At first Hadley said it was unclear exactly what the circumstances of the incident were.
According to the report, the victim was at the park with one other female and two males, who had "surfed over the dam on their stomachs." Reports showed that the victim had hit her head on some rocks in the dam and was knocked unconscious. She was noted floating face-down in the water for at least a minute or longer when a bystander, Airman 1st Class John Johnson from the 69th Maintenance Squadron, was asked to call 911.

Following the incident on the river bank, the victim was transported to Altru Health System in the city of Grand Forks.

Hadley is a trained EMT, firefighter, and hazardous materials responder, and he holds an associate's degree in public health from American Military University.

"I've got plenty of training and I've responded to my fair share of incidents on duty, but this was the first time I've ever responded to any type of incident while off duty," he said.

Hadley said if he had a chance, he would like to know that the young woman he helped that day is doing well.

"As a person with the proper training, I had a duty to act," he said.