Missing 4-year-old had water ‘up to his shoulders’ before rescue on NC creek, cops say
A 4-year-old who vanished from his North Carolina home was found in a creek with water “up to his shoulders,” officials said.
That’s when a police officer jumped into the creek and pulled the boy to safety this week, according to the Sylva Police Department.
It turns out, the officer — identified as Jacob Waldroup — wasn’t even on duty at the time of the near-drowning. The harrowing moments unfolded after Waldroup heard about the missing boy and decided to join the search.
Officials said the boy’s parents had called police to report that their 4-year-old son with autism disappeared. The boy was last seen in Sylva, roughly 45 miles southwest of the mountain tourist destination of Asheville.
After the child wandered off, someone reported hearing cries near a creek about three-quarters of a mile from his home. That’s when Waldroup began searching near the waterway, spotted the boy and rescued him from the moving water, officials wrote May 19 in a Facebook post.
“The child was not hurt but was taken to the hospital to be checked out,” the police department wrote. “This was such a close call.”
Several social media users took to Facebook to commend Waldroup, who was named Sylva’s Officer of the Year in 2021. Officials said they were grateful that officers and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office stepped in to look for the lost boy.
“It’s such an honor to be trusted with this great responsibility and to be able to play a role in the safety of this precious little child during such a dangerous moment,” officials wrote.
This story was originally published May 20, 2022 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Missing 4-year-old had water ‘up to his shoulders’ before rescue on NC creek, cops say."
