A police officer from Jackson, Wisconsin, helped three other adults rescue a 9-year-old child being sucked into a drainage culvert.
Jackson Police Officer Kyle Henning was driving his patrol car through the Green Valley neighborhood on the afternoon of Aug. 27 when he spotted a group of people that seemed to be struggling on the side of the road, according to the police department.
He instinctively knew they needed help, and he sped to the scene without hesitation.
“Accelerated as fast as I could, got there, got out. Didn’t even call it out on the radio, didn’t even put the lights on. Just ran and tried to help,” Officer Henning told Fox News.
At first the officer didn’t know what was wrong. “But then you saw the water and those arms sticking up from it,” he told Fox.
Henning ran up to the group of adults and realized they were trying to pull a child out of a drainage culvert.
The child, nine-year-old Gavin Moederndorfer-Quella, said one of his friends dared him to jump into the water.
“”I thought it would not suck me in,” he told Fox.
The fast-moving water did suck him in—and only the quick response of Officer Henning and the other adults kept the child alive.
Officer Henning had to lay flat on his chest and wrap both arms around the boy, and with help from the other bystanders, managed to drag the boy out of the culvert.
He told Fox, “I was able to kind of twist myself and him enough to wrench him away from the water vortex.”
“His face was pale. He was in shock.”
Officer Henning had his dash-cam turned on, so the entire rescue was recorded.
Rescue Buddies Reunited
Gavin Moederndorfer-Quella, his mother Taylor Moederndorfer, and Officer Henning all got together again on Thursday, Aug. 30.
Henning got a hug from Gavin and a tearful expression of thanks from his mother. She knew that if those people hadn’t been there, the outcome could have been tragic.
“If it wasn’t for them he would not be here today,” she said.
Officer Henning was happy to see that Gavin was doing well.
Officer Henning didn’t see himself as a life-saver, or a hero. He was just a person doing his job.
“That’s the whole thing of a first responder,” he explained.
“You don’t question it. You just go in where people need help.”
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