A teenager has been branded as a hero after jumping into an alligator-infested river to save three girls and a police officer from drowning.
16-year-old Corion Evans from Mississippi was on the bank of the Pascagoula River in Moss Point when he and his friends noticed a vehicle driving straight into the water after plunging off a boat launch.
According to the local reports, the incident took place at around 2.30 am on Sunday, whereas the car began sinking into the river rapidly some twenty feet away from the shore.
“They drove straight under the water. Like only a little bit of the car was still above the water,” Evans told WLOX.
Putting his life on the line, the teenager charged into the alligator-infested river along with his brothers Caleb Bradley and Karon ‘KJ’ and their friends.
“I was like ‘I can’t let none of these folks die. They need to get out of the water.’ So I just started getting them. I wasn’t even thinking about nothing else,” Corion added.
While rescuing the girls by pulling them to the surface and helping them swim to the shore, Corion noticed that a police officer, Gray Mercer, found himself drowning as well after diving into the water in an attempt to help the girls.
“I turned around, I see the police officer. He’s drowning. He’s going underwater, drowning saying ‘Help,’” the teen recalled.
“So I went over there. I went and I grabbed the police officer and I’m like swimming him back until I feel I can walk.”
Following the rescue, the girls and Officer Mercer began “throwing up because a lot of water had gotten inside all of them” while they were trapped underwater. They were all taken to a local hospital for a check-up and are expected to make a full recovery thanks to the quick thinking of Corion and his friends.
“The police department and I commend Mr Evans’ bravery and selflessness he displayed by risking his own safety to help people in danger,” Moss Point Chief Brandon Ashley said.
“If Mr Evans had not assisted, it could have possibly turned out tragically, instead of all occupants rescued safely.”
Meanwhile, Moss Point Mayor Billy Knight awarded Evans and Officer Mercer with recognition for their bravery.
Since the daring rescue, one of the girls has been identified as 19-year-old Cora Watson who explained that she was in the back seat of her friend’s car when the vehicle plunged off the I-10 boat launch.
“It’s no lights down here or nothing, so everything was just pitch black. The GPS thought we was on top of the interstate. That’s why it was telling us to go straight, because it did not say it was water here or nothing,” she said.
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