It was the sense of awareness and concern that saved a drowning boy’s life.
David Jones is an avid outdoorsman and one of his favorite activities is fishing.
Little did he know that this trip will be a matter of life and death for an unsuspecting child.
Jones was pulling in a sturgeon when he heard high-pitched screaming from a distance.
He was recording his trip with a GoPro which gave all of us a firsthand look at what happened next.
He saw a child.
When Jones realized that the scream was coming from a child, he paddled as fast as he can.
The former police officer described the scream as something that was in “complete panic”, “complete fear”, and something out of a horror movie.
The fear was justified because in the distance was a boy floating in a life jacket that was helplessly being carried by the current.
He went into rescue mode.
He paddled close to the kid and tried to calm him down.
The child was screaming and was asking to be taken back to his dad.
Jones, in the video, explained to the kid that his father’s boat was close but he wanted to take him to shore for his own safety.
As he was only in a kayak, Jones told the kid to hold onto the edge of the craft as water may come in if he tried to climb up.
His training came in handy.
With his training in law enforcement, Jones was trying to calm the boy down.
The boy was frantically explaining to him what happened. And through his story, he said something along the lines of “he was not listening.”
The art of distraction
Jones then gave clear and calm instructions to the boy and then asked off-tangent questions to veer the child’s focus.
At one point he asked the boy’s age, to which the boy replied “I don’t remember.” Jones then kept the mood light by joking if he’s 102 years old.
Jones’ main concern was the temperature.
He noted that the boy was starting to become blue and that his cognitive functions are becoming hazy.
He quickly pulled the boy up the pier and then went to a nearby home where two strangers watched the scene.
The old men quickly gave the boy a towel to warm him up as Jones called 911.
Eventually, parents and first responders arrived.
The parents told authorities that the child got detached from the boat he was driving.
The boy allegedly told the parents that he would swim back to shore but was unable to because of the currents.
The parents also said they couldn’t navigate to their child. Jones said to CBS News, however, that he still has a lot of questions about the whole encounter.
Viewers posed some questions too.
Some of them asked why the father would say that Jones “saved him a bunch of hassle” and why the boy refused for 911 to be called.
No matter the concerns surrounding the incident, Jones was just glad that the child was alive and safe.
He wishes the boy well and that he recovers well from the incident.
According to FOX, no one involved would face charges.
See this former policeman save a child’s life in the video below.
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