Passers-by rescue children
from icy Utah river
By LYNN DeBRUIN | AP - 19 hrs
ago
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former
police officer Chris Willden didn't
hesitate when he realized
children were trapped in an
upside down car in an icy Utah
river. He pulled his handgun,
pushed it up against the
submerged windows and shot
out the glass.
Then he reached inside.
"I was trying to grab arms, but I
couldn't feel anything," Willden
said. "I'm thinking ... 'What are we
going to do?'"
He turned to see up to eight other
passers-by had scrambled down
the 10-foot embankment to help
after coming upon the accident
along U.S. 89 in Logan Canyon on
Saturday afternoon.
The driver, Roger Andersen, 46, of
Logan, had lost control of the car
as he tried to brake while
heading northbound in slippery
conditions. Andersen was able to
free himself, but his 9-year-old
daughter and 4-year-old son
were trapped along with a
second 9-year-old girl.
Highway Patrol Lt. Steve Winward
said that after shooting out a
window, the rescuers helped turn
the Honda Accord upright in the
Logan River and rescue all three
trapped children.
"(The driver) was panicked, doing
everything he could to get in
through the doors, but they
wouldn't budge," said Willden,
who had jumped into the water
with his own father.
"I remember thinking to myself,
'You're going to see some dead
kids, get ready.' I've got three of
my own and it was going to be
(an awful) start to the New Year."
Willden said he tried
unsuccessfully to open windows
and doors. He then used his
firearm just as he had done in
training for his current job as a
bodyguard and Department of
Defense contractor.
One of the girls had found an air
pocket and was breathing fine
but was trapped in her seat belt.
Willden cut it with a pocket knife
and pulled her from the rear
passenger window.
He said the other two children
were lifeless, the boy upside
down in his car seat and the
second girl floating in the front
passenger compartment.
Buzzy Mullahkel, of North Logan,
told the Deseret News of Salt Lake
City that the boy wasn't breathing
and didn't have a pulse but was
revived when another passer-by
performed CPR.
"Emotions started taking over
when he started to breathe.
Everybody started to cheer. Lots
of tears and clapping," said
Mullahkel, a father of a 4-year-old.
Willden, 35 of Ogden, was
wrapping up his bleeding
forearms cut by the broken
window when he heard cheers.
"That was awesome," he said. "I
knew that's where the little boy
was."
He would later learn both the boy
and his sister, who were flown by
air ambulance to Primary
Children's Medical Center in Salt
Lake City, had survived.
Bonnie Midget, a hospital
spokeswoman, said Sunday both
were taken out of intensive care
Sunday but still in the hospital,
listed in fair condition as they
recover from hypothermia.
Winward said the father and the
second girl escaped injury.
Mullahkel said the scene
reminded him of another heroic
rescue in Logan earlier this year.
In that case, bystanders lifted a
burning car off an injured
motorcyclist and pulled him to
safety. The motorcyclist survived
and is recovering from his
injuries.
"It was eerily similar," Mullahkel
told the Deseret News. "Those
men in the river just even now
blow my mind. Look at these
gentlemen, these men in this river
in the middle of winter."
Willden said simply there was a
mission to be accomplished.
He noted that both he and his
father are former military/civilian
police officers, while his sister
and mother are emergency
medical technicians.
"It's in our family to go out and
help others," he said.