Oregon driver who saw barefoot toddler run across highway saves him from drowning
From The Mercury News:
An Oregon driver who saw a barefoot toddler run across a four-lane highway stopped to chase the boy — and ended up rescuing him from drowning in an irrigation canal.
Bailey Vardanega told TV station KTVZ that she was driving home from work around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Redmond when she saw a man on the shoulder of northbound Highway 97 trying to flag down vehicles. Then she saw the 2-year-old crossing the highway.
Vardanega immediately pulled over and gave chase on foot. The boy made it across the highway, ducked under a fence and headed toward the irrigation canal that runs along the west side of the road. Then his pursuer saw him fall in — so she went in, too.
“My legs were faster than I’ve ever run, and I swam more aggressive than I ever swam,” she said. “I just start swimming, and I swam and I swam.
“I’m watching him go up and down, and fighting — a 2-year-old fighting in water. I get about a couple strokes from him, and he stopped fighting, and he was face-down, and his arms were up.”
She grabbed the child and hauled him out of the chilly canal.
By that time, the frantic man from the roadside was there. He had been walking home from the grocery store when he saw a child running on the highway and, horrified, recognized his own son.
The boy, in the care of his paternal grandmother, had slipped out of the yard through an opening in the back fence, and crossed the railroad tracks and a wire fence to reach the highway.
The grandmother, Jodie Ewing, 51, had not even realized the boy was missing until the police showed up. She was cited for second-degree child neglect, said Lt. Jesse Petersen of the Redmond police. The case was referred to the state Department of Human Services and the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office for further review.
The police credited Vardanega’s “heroic act” in saving the child, who had swallowed water and “was at serious risk of drowning,” Petersen said.
“She put herself in great danger when she selflessly crossed a busy four-lane highway and jumped into the cold canal to save the life of a 2-year-old child she didn’t know,” he added. “She is a hero, and we would like to thank her for the bravery and selflessness she displayed last night.”
Redmond Fire & Rescue medics took the boy to the hospital, where he was evaluated and released.
Vardanega is the mother of two boys, ages 4 and 2½. “I’d want anybody to do the same for my child,” she said. “I know in my heart I’m not a hero, I’m just a sheep of God – he’s my shepherd. He just uses me as I ask him to.”
She and her family live in Terrebonne, north of Redmond, and she works as a real estate agent.
“You don’t think twice on those things,” she said. “It’s not what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to help, and help one another — especially the innocent that don’t know. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”