
A 32-year-old Shawnee man paid the ultimate price while trying to save a drowning child in a Chickasaw National Recreation Area creek Monday, authorities said.
According to Park spokesman Eric Leonard, the man was pronounced
dead at Arbuckle Memorial Hospital after attempting to save an
eight-year-old child who was having difficulty swimming.
The incident began unfolding about 5:15 p.m., according to Leonard,
when a group was swimming in a stream near Veterans Lake. Scanner
reports indicated the incident was at an area commonly referred
to as the 40-foot hole in Rock Creek, near Veterans Lake.
Leonard said the 32-year-old man jumped into the water to assist
the child and encountered difficulty while trying to save her
life. He said bystanders and other park visitors pulled the man
from the water. CPR was begun when emergency personnel arrived
and he was taken to Arbuckle Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced
dead shortly after arrival.
The child, whose life was saved, was treated and released.
Leonard said identification of the victims is being withheld pending
full notification of the family.
"This incident underscores the importance of the water safety
rescue sequence: reach, throw, don't go," Leonard said in
a news release.
Agencies responding to the incident were the National Park Service,
Murray County Sheriff's Department, Murray County Emergency Services,
Sulphur Fire Department, Sulphur Police Department, Chickasaw
Lighthorse Police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Email our reporter at dhudspeth@sulphurtimes.com.
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