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Fisherman saves boy from drowning in flooded river

April 30, 2013

A local fisherman saved a 12 year-old boy from drowning in a flooded river this past weekend.

Robert Salsberry was fishing when he noticed a man desperately holding on to someone's arm under a flooded bridge. He was in a panic and Salsberry knew he had to hurry.

The man was Dan Schultz, holding on to his son Lucas, who was being sucked into a drain pipe.

"I saw the father running. I just knew .. I knew at that point .. I knew what happened," Schultz said, choking up. "I grabbed ahold of his arm. We were both pulling, we were both pulling, and we couldn't pull him back…I saw his shoe pop up. His shoe floated down the river. I just started praying, Lord, please push him through. Push him through!"

The two together could not pull Lucas and he disappeared in the drain pipe for nearly two minutes before being flushed out the other side. Salsberry chased Lucas down the river, pulled him onto a nearby island, and started performing CPR.

"He blinked and he raised up his arm. I knew he was with us. I knew he was back with us," Salsberry said.

"Without him here, I don't know what we'd be doing today. It may have been a completely different outcome without Mr. Salsberry here," said Leadwood, MO Police Officer, Eric Smith, who responded to the scene.

Lucas was transported to a local hospital, treated overnight, and released the next day.