re: BRPD Divers Looking for a Man in the River

At LSU in the 90s (no cell phones), I took a group of roommates and their friends out to the pier where the Water Center is now. These were mostly out of state folks.

Well, wouldn't you know it, one girl falls into the river. Nobody really took it seriously. One guy from Louisiana dove in after her. He didn't come up. The girl was able to swim into the wake of the pier and into some flimsy trees to hang onto nearby us.

Meanwhile, I began to scramble for a solution to get the girl out of the river.

In the metal building that once stood out there, a mass of debris was piled up in the middle. I started rummaging through it looking for something that would float. Nothing. I did find a long, roughed-up garden hose. That was my lifeline. I pulled the hose from the pile, untangling it, and fashioning a loop into one end of it as fast as I could.

We finally were able to drop the hose down to the water where she latched onto it, good and tight. We dragged her back to land from the pier. About that time, we see the guy who dove in after her walking towards us from down the levee. He was scratched up a little, but just fine. He said he went under and came up in the middle of some trees, but was able to use the branches to get himself to shore.

Thankfully, it all worked out. Most of those guys had a good laugh about it. I still don't think they had any idea how close to a death scene they actually were.