‘It was now or never’
Keeseville man saves drowning child in AuSable River near Jay Covered Bridge
JAY — A child on vacation with his family was saved from drowning in the East Branch AuSable River rapids near the Jay Covered Bridge on Saturday when a bystander spotted his hand above the water and leaped into action.
Kevin Teller, 41, was standing nearby with his friend Justin Jaquish and said he was “just at the right place at the right time.”
“I thought to myself, ‘I’m saving whoever that is or I’m (going to) die trying,” Teller said Wednesday. “Definitely a crazy day.”
Teller and Jaquish, both from Keeseville, were talking on the east bank of the river, near Jay Falls, when the child slipped across from them on the west bank and fell into the river. Spotting the child’s hand above the water but moving downstream through the rapids, Teller thought “it was now or never,” he said later, and “just went for it.”
“I ran. (The) first part was rocks, then low water,” Teller said. “(I) jumped that rapid to perfectly intercept the kid.”
Once he caught the child, who was initially floating face-down, Teller had a moment of relief before he realized it wasn’t possible to remain in that spot, with its strong current, until first responders arrived. He had to get himself and the child farther downstream to a safer spot.
“I couldn’t hold on,” Teller said. “So, I looked at the kid after he said ‘Please don’t let me go,’ half-drowned and sort of out of it, (and) I said, ‘Well, hold on. We’re about to take a ride.'”
Teller let the current carry him downstream, “bouncing and swimming at (the) same time off the bottom” to keep the child afloat. They landed on a piece of rock closer to the Jay Covered Bridge.
While waiting in that spot for first responders to arrive, Teller said he was thinking about how he and the child were not out of danger yet.
“With (my) toes, like, crawled into rocks, and him sitting on this small rock popped out in the middle of the rapids, (I thought) ‘Damn, we got three or four more spots that were rapids to hit,'” he said.
The Jay Volunteer Fire Department and AuSable Forks EMS were called to the bridge around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, JVFD Assistant Chief Ralph Schissler said Wednesday. The Upper Jay Volunteer Fire Department and fire coordinators from Essex County Emergency Services also responded.
At 6:02 p.m., the state Department of Environmental Conservation dispatched forest rangers to the scene to assist. Rangers Nichole DuChene and Andrew Lewis responded.
Teller and the child were given floatation vests and the first responders used throw bags and a safety rope to eventually hoist them out of the water. Schissler said he wasn’t sure how long Teller and the child had been in the water when firefighters arrived, and Teller said he wasn’t sure of the exact time he first dove in to save the child. The entire rescue took about an hour — Teller and the child were pulled from the water at 6:36 p.m., according to the DEC.
After being pulled out of the river, the child was carried in a stokes basket to the awaiting ambulance and transported to the hospital.
An hour of staying upright in the rapids trying to keep the child safe took a toll on Teller, he said — his legs were still bruised and cut as of Wednesday, and when he got out of the water after the rescue, he almost fell down from how bad his legs were shaking.
“I was trying to get to the car before people knew I was hurt,” Teller said.
JVFD characterized Teller’s actions as “selfless and humble” in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Kevin acted swiftly to hold onto the boy and keep his head above water,” they wrote. JVFD’s initial post on Monday thanked first responders but did not mention Teller, though it was later edited to include a nod to him.
“We all definitely should be thanking that man for saving that boy’s life. His selflessness to step in and help someone he may or may not have known certainly should be praised,” JVFD wrote in a comment on its Monday post. “We need more of that in today’s society!”
After being pulled out of the river, Teller met the child’s father on the bridge, who offered to buy him dinner as a thank-you. Teller turned him down.
“I said, ‘No, you’re good. You would (have done) that for me,'” he said. “I’m just happy the kid was uninjured and safe.”