Thursday 7 July 2022 03:24 PM Hero Mississippi teen, 16, dives into river to rescue three girls AND a cop ... trends now
A Mississippi teenager is being hailed as a hero after he jumped into an alligator-infested river to rescue three girls and a police officer from drowning.
Corion Evans, 16, was on the shore of the Pascagoula River early Sunday morning when he and his friends saw a car drive over a boat launch and sink into the water.
The three girls in the car had driven off Interstate-10 straight into the water after trying to follow the directions on their GPS at around 2.30am, according to WLOX.
As they reached about 20ft from shore, their car began to sink.
'They drove straight under the water,' Evans told the news station. 'Like only a little bit of the car was still above the water.'
At that point, Evans took off his shoes, shirt and phone and jumped into the river, along with his friends and brothers Karon 'KJ' and Caleb Bradley.
'I was like 'I can't let none of these folks die. They need to get out of the water,'' Evans recounted. 'So I just started getting them. I wasn't even thinking about nothing else.'
Corion Evans, 16, is being hailed as a hero after he jumped into the Pascagoula River early Sunday morning and rescued three girls and a police officer from drowning
Evans was able to get all three girls and the police officer to shore, where they were brought to a local hospital and are recovering
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He said he tried to carry the three girls above water and swim with them to shore.
But as Evans was making his rescue, he said he noticed Moss Point Police Officer Gray Mercer was also struggling in the water after he, too, dove into help the girls.
'I turned around, I see the police officer,' Evans said. 'He's drowning. He's going underwater, drowning saying 'Help.'
'So I went over there. I went and I grabbed the police officer and I'm like swimming him back until I feel I can walk.'
Eventually, Moss Point police say, Evans helped get all three girls and Mercer to the shore, where they began 'throwing up because a lot of water had gotten inside all of them.' 'It was a lot of swimming,' Evans explained. 'My legs were so tired after.'
He noted that 'anything could've been in that water,' which is home to about 13,000 alligators, according to the Jackson Free Press.
'But I wasn't thinking about it,' Evans said.
The victims were brought to a local hospital in the aftermath, and WLOX reports that Mercer is expected to be back on the force later this week.
On Wednesday, Evans and one of the survivors, Cora Watson, 19, left, returned to the river
Watson credits Evans with saving her life, saying she was about to take her last breath when he grabbed her and swam her to safety
