Police officer saves friend from watery grave

In midst of all the recounts of tragedies involving water, there is at least one happy ending from a swimming session that almost went wrong over the weekend. According to P.C. Michael Roches, on Sunday he was bathing in the Moho River near Boom Creek Village in the Toledo District when he had to rescue another man on the brink of death. This afternoon, the heroic police officer told his story to News 5.

Michael Roches, Saved Drowning Man

“We were bathing and swimming in the river. And this guy Victoriano Lino was out there with us and basically, this guy went out the whole night, bleaching, he was at a wake. And the man went out there and was swimming with us. We were in the middle of the river and my sister said, “Let’s haul the barge back to the river side,” and we did that. When we were like twenty to fifteen yards away from the riverside, this guy decide that maybe he could make it to the riverside. So he jumped off the barge and start to try to make it to the riverside. But probably he couldn’t make it, so what happen is he started to float down the river, and he was asking for help. A lot of us were there and this guy was a playful guy, so everybody thought he was playing. He started to float down the river, he went about fifteen to twenty yards from the barge we were on and he went down.

When I saw he went down, I saw he went down, I realise he wasn’t playing, so I started to swim immediately. When I went down I saw him helpless, so I decided to go down and hold him from the back, bring him up and I take him to the riverside and I apply CPR to him. That was basically what happen, he recover and we called for the ambulance and it took him to P.G.”

Victoriano Lino was taken to the Punta Gorda Hospital where he was treated, and except for the taste of river water in his mouth and a new found respect for H2O, is in good health.