Five Skyline High School teens dive into creek to rescue family from car accident
SWAN VALLEY, Idaho (KIFI) - A mother and her two children are alive and recovering after their truck flipped upside down in a creek along Falls Creek Road, near Porcupine Creek and Rash Canyon.
It took so many people to rescue this mom and her two sons from the creek.
A part of the rescue team were five Skyline High School students:
- Jeremy (JJ) Thompson
- Clay Lindula
- Logan Mcalevy
- Donald (DJ) Carney
- Colton Johnson
"We were going down the road. I see some people on the side of the road, and I kind of pull over waiting for them to pass by," Thompson said. "They don't come, so I think, oh, they're probably waiting for me. So we go around the corner, and then that's when we see the truck tipped over in the creek."
Without a moment of hesitation, not even taking the time to throw their wallets out of their pockets, these teens dove into the creek to save the family.
The mother was able to pry herself out of the front window with some help. But her two boys were still stuck inside.
"I feel a shovel on the bottom of the creek bed," Mcalevy said. "From there I smashed the black glass, stick my arm in the truck, and then I feel the one year old kid grab my finger."
After pulling both kids from the car, these five teens had to find the mentality of trained adults, setting aside their own fears to help calm a distraught four-year-old, while Rylie Albertson and Danielle Williams fought to save his little brother.
"He was screaming for his mom. He was screaming for his dad. He was screaming for his little brother – very worried about all of them," Carney recounted. "But I'm glad we were able to pull him away and put him kind of by the trailer where he could, like, be away from where his little brother's CPR was performed, because even seeing that, like for a minute, I was like, it got bad for us and we didn't even know."
The group wished they could've done more to help resuscitate the one-year-old.
When they got home, the first phone call they made wasn't to their parents, but a friend and retired Fire Chief who could teach them CPR. When asked if they would take CPR classes if they were offered, they all offered a resounding yes.
American Heart Association CPR Training
Idaho Falls Community Hospital
Benefit Dinner for Family
A benefit dinner will be held to support the family who was caught in the crash next month.
It will be held at the Westbank Convention Center on July 11th with dinner beginning at 6 PM.
More details will be posted on the Signature Events Facebook Page as the event gets closer.
