Officers rescue child in Tenn-Tom

Eleven-year-old was underwater at least 4 or 5 minutes, expected to make full recovery

Two conservation officers on routine water patrol on Memorial Day are being hailed as heroes after rescuing a youngster from the waters of the Tenn-Tom Waterway near Columbus.

Marc McCleskey and Travis McDonald, both Corporals with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, pulled the lifeless body from a popular swimming area and administered CPR on the bank, eventually clearing the child’s lungs and gaining a pulse.

Michael Williams, 11, of Columbus, is expected to make a full recovery despite having been in the water for at least four or five minutes.

“We’re not sure how long he was down, but by best guesstimate, I’d say at least that long,” said McDonald, who was driving the boat when the officers passed the site. “Marc saw a group of kids, I think three of them, waving at us.”

McCleskey said he saw the other boys and something seemed “off.”

“You know, when we are out there, we see a lot of people just waving to say hello, but when I saw them something just seemed off, not right,” said McCleskey, who nudged McDonald and suggested they check it out. “We ran back up there and asked them what was going on, and one of them hollered ‘my brother went under out there and didn’t come up. He’s drowning.’ He was pointing to where he last saw him.”

McCleskey wasted little time.

“I immediately starting stripping off my duty gear and dove in,” he said. “I went down and started feeling around the bottom. It was deep the first time and I came back up and they were yelling at me to move closer.”

McDonald was on the radio to the MDWFP radio room to get emergency help on the way, all the while helping McCleskey understand the location.

“The kids, I think it was his brother, was telling us he wasn’t that far out from the bank, so Marc moved up about five or six feet and went back down,” McDonald said. “The kid had done a good job marking the spot where he had last seen his brother.”

The water was too murky to search by eye, and after moving closer to the bank, McCleskey realized his best hope was using his feet to feel the bottom.

“It was about 12 feet deep and I could go down and stay longer in that position, feet first, releasing air slowly, and on my third time down, I felt him with my foot,” he said. “I think I touched his stomach because he was so full of water that his stomach was sticking up.

“I was about out of air so I went back to the surface, hollered that I had found him and went back down a fourth time and got him and took him to the surface.”

McDonald tossed a flotation device and was able to help get McCleskey and the youngster to the bank. That’s when the two men, and an unidentified male, went to work. The child was totally unresponsive with no sign of life.

“When we got him up there, I immediately started doing chest compressions, which is how we are trained,” McCleskey said. “I was working hard and I gotta tell you it’s hard. It’s tiring.

“But this other guy, we still don’t know who he is, and he deserves credit for his help, came running down the hill to us and asking us if he could help. He held the child’s head up so it would keep his throat clear and the whole time we were working on him, he was cheering us on. He was telling us we were doing a good job. He was pushing us to keep at it, not to give up. He was encouraging the boy, too, to fight. I was worn out and he just kept pushing me. He was a morale booster for sure.”

After a few minutes, McCleskey tired and McDonald took over.

“After Travis started doing the compressions, I started feeling around and finally got a pulse,” McCleskey said. “He was still unresponsive but he was trying to breath.”

Unlike you see on TV, McDonald said the child never coughed or gagged.

“He just started spitting up water and I rolled him on his side so he could drain without swallowing it back in,” McDonald said. “We were slapping him on the back trying to clear the water.”

The officers had been at it for about five or six minutes and had the boy breathing, albeit a labored breath, when the ambulance and EMS arrived, and they started up the hill with the child.

“We kind of met them halfway and got him up to the boardwalk and on a backboard EMS was able to take over and get oxygen on him and he started responding,” McCleskey said. “We were catching our breath and talking with the EMS people and officers from Columbus and other people. They told us he was starting to talk, complaining about something in his eyes (sand) and that’s when I finally started feeling he was going to make it.”

Said McDonald: “When the ambulance left, Marc and I took a deep breath, traded high 5s and finally started realizing what had happened. I have to give Marc credit, he did most of the work and he was relentless.”

The officers returned to their boat, raced to the ramp and then straight to the emergency room in a Columbus hospital.

“We met his parents there, and they thanked us,” McCleskey said.

“Then we talked to his E.R. doctor and he told us he felt really good about his chances of surviving,” added McDonald.

Williams was later transferred to the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson, where he continues to recover. According to reports, a full recovery is expected.

“I called one of my conservation officers in the Metro Jackson area and had him go by the hospital and check on him Tuesday,” McCleskey said. “He said the youngster was sitting up and talking, and that his mom told him he was expected to make a full recovery. He remembers getting ready to go swimming and then he remembers nothing else until he woke up in the emergency room. Other than that, he seems OK.”

McCleskey and McDonald have been overwhelmed by the public response for doing what they are paid to do.

“That’s our job; that’s why we are out there,” McCleskey said.

Col. Steve Adcock, the MDWFP’s Chief of Law Enforcement, was quick to praise the two officers, and all of his conservation officers.

“A lot of time, they don’t get the credit they deserve, but our officers are among the best-trained, hardest-working and devoted officers you will find anywhere,” Adcock said. “We are trained in all facets of enforcement and emergencies, and we aid in all kinds of situations, because we’re out there. And a lot of time we’re out there where nobody else is, and our officers are usually out there alone.”

This time, thankfully, there were two officers on site.

McCleskey, 36, a Meridian native now living in Caledonia, has been with the MDWFP since April 2006. Lowndes County is his home district.

McDonald, 26, joined the MDWFP six years ago. He is a native of Winona, lives in Starkville and serves Oktibbeha County. His older brother Chris McDonald, is a biologist who serves as the MDWFP’s Assistant Chief of Wildlife.

“We just had an outdoor first aid training course about two months ago,” McDonald said. “Part of that was CPR and we both remembered that we had been told that chest compressions was the key. That’s what we concentrated on and it worked.”

The third man remains unknown, but the officers acknowledge the role he played.

“He was a big help, not only with the encouragement but by holding the child’s head in the right position,” McDonald said. “When it was over, he was gone, like he just went back to doing what he’d been doing, walking on the boardwalk. We never got his name.”

***

Anyone who can identify the man, who is thought to be between 40 and 50 years old, is asked to contact bobbyc7754@yahoo.com. He deserves recognition.