Officers honored for river rescue (2024)

By Ryan WiluszStaff Writer

When Investigator Ryan Stotts of the Morganton Department of Public Safety arrived along the riverbank, there wasn’t enough time to think.

“Not a thing (was going through my mind),” Stotts said. “The only thing I saw was (the family) in the middle of the river, and I wasn’t waiting around.”

Four public safety officers and additional emergency personnel used a rope to reach and eventually rescue a woman, two kids and a dog June 14, 2017.

Stotts will tell you they just were doing their job, but others have labeled their actions as heroic. And the officers were honored for that heroism earlier this week.

Stotts and three other public safety officers were awarded during a ceremony Wednesday at CoMMA for their efforts in rescuing the family from the river.

Chief Ronnie Rector presented Stotts, Officer Daniel Gabryszewski and Investigator Kyle Goforth with a service citation for valor and a medal for valor during the ceremony. He also presented a meritorious service citation and medal to Investigator Donny Dellinger.

The distinguished service citation for valor is awarded to a member who performs an act of heroism in the face of personal injury or risk of life. The meritorious service citation is awarded to a member who performs an extremely laudable or extraordinary act.

“Any officer in that situation would have done something similar because that’s who officers are,” Rector said. “But these officers — they did not think about themselves. What they thought about was that lady and those kids and that dog.”

Julia Pedro and Magdalena Gomez were in the ankle-deep water with five children and a dog when the Catawba River access wheels turned on. Being that they were near Judge’s Riverside restaurant, they could not hear the warning alarm coming from the dam.

The water began getting higher, leaving the family stranded. Gomez quickly helped bring two children back to land, and a bystander called 911 before hopping in the water and saving a child, herself.

But when emergency personnel arrived, Pedro, two children and a dog still were left stranded in the middle of the river.

Goforth, Stotts and Dellinger were three of the first five people to arrive on the scene, according to an MDPS press release. Stotts and Goforth jumped into the moving water, which rose and additional 3 feet during the rescue.

After Stotts and Goforth grabbed on to the family and the dog, Dellinger entered the water to help.

Stotts began carrying the children to land when Gabryszewski entered the water with a safety line to assist. Gabryszewski continued to hold the line as Stotts brought the children to safety and as Goforth brought Pedro and the dog to safety.

“I feel like (Pedro) — she did as much to help everyone as we did,” Goforth said. “She had been out there in the water holding her children and the dog all by herself much longer than we had to. At the end of the day, she had as much of a role as everyone, if not more.”

When asked what it was like to save someone’s life, Stotts said he never really thought about it that way.

“I have a lot of nephews and a lot of nieces all under the age of 5,” he said. “I’d want anyone to do that for me.”

In fact, Stotts saw his nieces and nephews shortly after the rescue. Just the thought of them being stranded in the water made him break down and cry.

“It could have been anybody’s kid out there,” he said.

Reflecting on the situation, Rector said he is happy with the way the officers handled themselves.

“I’ve been doing this for well over 20 years, and a lot of the (officers) I have grown up with,” Rector said. “Others I’ve seen come on later, and they feel like my brothers and my sisters and sometimes my kids. I’m always proud of what they do.”

Ryan Wilusz is a staff writer and can be reached at rwilusz@morganton.com or at 828-432-8941. Follow @MNH_RyanW on Twitter.