Man walking dog saw 7-year-old ‘dangling feet over river’—his quick response averted a fatality
A person's quick response to a situation can change the outcome in many instances. A 61-year-old experienced the same when he saw a 7-year-old, Makai Bays, dangling his feet in the river and then falling in immediately afterwards. The man, Ed Rohmer, was out walking his dog, Maddie, along the Seneca River one evening when the incident happened. Rohmer's quick actions in the aftermath of the fall saved the boy's, life, per Syracuse.com.
Rohmer noticed that the boy was biking across Lock 24, right next to the river. At one point, he parked his bike, climbed down and dangled his feet right over the river. The man witnessed the harrowing sight and screamed for the boy to get back up. "Hey, don’t go down there. That water is cold and you don’t want to fall in," Rohmer recounted. Just like the man had warned, Makai immediately fell into the water. The boy's mother, Taylor Provost, later revealed that the boy doesn't know how to swim either. The mom was doing a night shift at a local restaurant when the incident happened. She had left Makai with her 18-year-old daughter at home. As the family had moved into a new neighborhood just two months ago, the boy was out exploring with two other friends.
The two other kids had gone to a park and Makai was about to join them when he made a stop and fell into the river. Rohmer wanted to rush to the boy, but his dog was resisting getting on the lock. Right then, he spotted a child who was skateboarding and asked him to look after Maddie as he went towards the lock and called 911. "I’m here. I’m going to help you," he reassured Makai. The boy was cold and scared inside the water and had managed to hold onto a log while Rohmer got Makai's bike and tried to get the boy out with its help. He encouraged the boy to hold onto the other end so he could pull him out, but as the boy was really cold, he couldn't get a strong enough grip on it.
Even after multiple attempts, Makai kept falling back in as he tried to hold onto the bike. At one point, he fell in and Rohmer noticed a sneaker floating up on the water. The man felt that he had no other option but to jump in to save Makai. "Oh my God, I’m going to have to jump in. My heart just broke when I saw that sneaker." But right at that time, a police officer arrived at the scene and tried to help the man and firefighters followed soon after as well. A firefighter asked Rohmer to hold onto his legs as he lay down to get Makai out of the water. He could pull him out safely. Emergency responders came in next and the boy gave them his address. His sister called their mom at work and Provost came in to be in the ambulance with her son as they went to the hospital.
"I’m very grateful to him and everyone who helped," Provost expressed. The boy was discharged from the hospital and didn't have any injuries from the fall; however, he was a little shaken up because of the incident. "A million things could have gone wrong, but they didn’t. I’m just so grateful," the woman added. She was also thankful to Rohmer for everything he did. "He saved Makai’s life 100 percent." On the other hand, Rohmer remarked, "I like to think I did what anyone would have done in that situation." He met the boy later on and shared that he was glad that Makai was alright.