Tolton Catholic High School students rescue woman from flood waters
Are members of Boy Scout Troop 6, which is based at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Columbia
Two Boy Scouts from Troop 6 in Columbia may get a hard-to-earn Lifesaving and Meritorious Action Award after they braved Hinkson Creek flood waters to rescue a woman late Friday afternoon.
Joseph Diener, 16, and Dominick Viet, 15, who are students of Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School in Columbia, were riding their bikes near Jay Dix Station off Scott Boulevard when they heard a woman in distress.
“We were just going on a bike ride on the part of the park that wasn’t flooded,” Dominick said. “We heard someone screaming.”
The boys heard the calls of an 18-year-old woman who Columbia Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Jenkins said became distressed while voluntarily swimming in the flood waters of Hinkson Creek. She was clinging to a partially submerged post and was unable to swim to safety.
Joseph and Dominick decided to help the woman rather than waiting for firefighters to arrive.
“I don’t think she could’ve lasted until they got there,” Joseph said. “We definitely paused, but then we decided it was the right thing to do.”
Together, the two boys swam about 10 yards to the woman.
“The water was about a quarter of the way up on a basketball hoop,” Joseph said, “probably around 6 or 7 feet.”
Despite a slight current and high water, the boys were able to reach the woman and have her grab onto their shoulders so they could bring her to shore. Other bystanders were there to help haul the woman from the water.
Dominick said a friend of the woman told him she had been in the water for around 30 minutes.
“She wasn’t moving and couldn’t talk,” Joseph said. “She was just spitting up water.”
The woman was conscious and speaking when first responders arrived. She was taken to University Hospital, but the Fire Department didn’t know about her current condition.
Jeremy Diener, Joseph’s father, said he heard about the event only after it was over with. Diener received a call from the father of one of Joseph’s friends after Joseph arrived at the friend’s house.
“He called me up and told me about the adventure,” Diener said. “I was proud but concerned, and we had a long talk afterwards about the dangers of flood waters.”
Still, Diener was happy his son did what he did.
“It feels good to know he would think of others in that way.”
Dominick’s mother, Monica Viet, said she was worried about her son before she knew about the rescue.
“I was calling, and he wasn’t answering,” she said. Viet asked her husband, Dustin Viet, to drive to their son’s location to make sure he was safe. When he got there and told her there was an ambulance at the scene, she became frightened.
When Dominick was finally able to call his mother, he explained why he didn’t answer his phone.
“Hey, Mom,” he said. “I just saved a life.”
Scoutmaster Morgan Dailey of Troop 6, which is based at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, said both boys have their swimming and lifesaving merit badges.
“A big thing in scouting is being prepared,” Dailey said. “They were prepared.”
“I’m totally proud and excited for them,” Dailey added, referencing the award the pair might receive.
As for how the two feel after saving a life, Joseph says he is “doing good” and Dominick is “not too bad.”
A total of 6.98 inches of rain fell at MU’s Sanborn Field weather station from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday, causing flash flooding and closing many roads. Hinkson Creek reached a new high flood stage level of 23.13 feet at 7:45 on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Hana Kellenberger wrote this article for the June 28, 2021, edition of the Columbia Missourian (columbiamissourian.com) and is republished here with permission.
