COLUMBUS— A woman and her 8-year-old daughter were rescued from a river on Saturday afternoon after a Columbus police officer pulled them from it.
Police and first responders were alerted to the incident at Mill Race Park near 5th and Linsey Street at 1:45 p.m.
When Officer Andrew Plank arrived, he found a woman and her daughter holding onto a fallen tree in the East Fork of White River. The woman was shouting she couldn’t hang on much longer.
Officer Plank removed his body armor and gun belt and swam to the fallen tree. He grabbed the 8-year-old girl and swam her back to the bank of the river with her on his back. He dove back into the river and helped get the mother, 34-year-old Charity Weis of Idaville, to safety.
Medics checked out the mother and child on the scene.
According to police, two children were playing on a sandbar when they ended up in the river and got swept away by the strong current. The mother went to help them when she and one of the children got caught in the river’s current.
Columbus police remind everyone to wear a personal floatation device when in or around a body of water. They warn swimming in the river is dangerous. “The river’s current can be deadly even for strong swimmer,” they posted on Facebook.
