“Need some help?” David Jones Jr. is being hailed a hero after he rescued a 6-year-old boy who was by himself in the middle of a river. Jones was out in his kayak fishing for sturgeon on the St. Louis River in Duluth, Minnesota on July 5th when he heard a boy scream and spotted the youngster bobbing in the water not far from him.
As a former police officer, Jones’ training immediately kicked in and he called out to the boy and paddled over. The boy, who was wearing a personal floatation device, was distraught, having been separated from his father and unable to get to shore. Jones’ GoPro video captured how he calmly got the young boy to shore and got him help.
During the paddle to shore Jones told news outlets that he realized the boy was probably in the early stage of hypothermia as the boy couldn’t remember how old he was and his face was going blue.
Jones recounted what happened on Instagram:
“So yesterday I had this feeling of wanting to fish the St. Louis river from the boy scout landing. As I got to the ramp there were 2 different married couples fishing. And a father in his sail boat while his son swam right beside it. As I got into the water everything seemed to be okay at least at the moment. The wind picked up and so did the waves at a swift rate. I watched as the father pulled his anchor. While doing so his son continued swimming as the next time I looked his dad was gone.”
“As I was hooked into what I believe at the time was a sturgeon I heard this scream that no parent ever wants to hear. The sound was a child screaming for his life as he’s being swept away by the current. I then bit my fishing line and paddled as quickly as I could to the 6 year old kid. Other than his dad’s sail boat hundreds of yards away I was the only watercraft in eye sight. I quickly got the kid to calm down and onto shore. I was worried about how cold he was telling me he felt so I contacted emergency medical services. I stayed long enough to watch law enforcement and his father reunited with his son.”
Fox News reported that the boy was reunited with his father (as you see in Jones’ video). Officers interviewed the dad and learned that they had been out sailing and the boy had wanted to swim next to the boat and hold onto a rope. But the boy lost hold of the rope and the wind and currents separated the pair. Those same currents prevented the boy from swimming to shore safely.
Thankfully, Jones acted promptly and saved the boy from danger.
Jones posted a full 9 minute video of the now viral rescue on his Instagram account. You can watch the longer video below:
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