Michael Hogrefe of London feared the worst when he realized he had to release a 10-year-old girl who was drowning at the Ponca low water bridge of the Buffalo National River in Newton County.
"The hard part was having to let go of her and telling her daddy, 'I'll be back,'" Hogrefe said Wednesday. "I couldn't make him understand. That was the only way I was going to get her out."
"It worked out," he said.
A family from Independence, Mo., was at the Ponca low water bridge at the same time as Hogrefe, a friend and her 4-year-old daughter, according to Hogrefe and a news release from the Newton County sheriff's office.
Hogrefe was sitting in a chair in the water when he heard the mother of the Missouri family and his friend shouting that the father and his daughter needed help. He didn't recognize the emergency at first because both of their heads were above water.
But Hogrefe responded when the mother told him that the girl couldn't swim well, he said. He swam about 15 yards to them.
"I popped up in the middle with them," he said. "I didn't realize we were in trouble until I tried to get out of there."
They were caught in a whirlpool and couldn't swim out, Hogrefe said. Hogrefe couldn't stand up in the knee-deep water and lost his footing. They all kept going underwater.
Realizing they couldn't get out of the water from that point, he pushed the father and daughter to the bridge. Hogrefe had a bad feeling when he let go of the girl -- by that time facedown -- and told her father to hold onto her, he said. The mother, standing on the bridge, was supporting the father using a branch.
Hogrefe swam about 30 yards to a road that led to the bridge. He climbed down to a ledge under the bridge, lay on his belly, and he and the father worked to get the girl out of the water.
He was able to get her onto the bridge. At first her body was limp, he said. She was not breathing and had no pulse. Her eyes were open and fixed.
Hogrefe knows CPR and started chest compressions. In the middle of the fourth round of doing 30 chest compressions and two breaths, he felt her heart flutter like a bird, he said. She batted her eyes and began coughing, and before long was up walking.
"It was such a relief," he said.
While Hogrefe worked over the girl, two other men helped the father out of the water, he said.
The Newton County sheriff's office received a call about 5 p.m. Tuesday about a possible drowning at Buffalo National River, according to the news release.
But when deputies arrived, Daniella Renteria, who turned 11 years old Wednesday, was sitting on a rock being treated by first responders, Newton County Search and Rescue Coordinator Glenn Wheeler said. Her father, Jose Renteria, 37, was exhausted and lying in a truck.
They were treated at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison, Wheeler said.
Liset Nunez, the girl's mother, said the family arrived back home Wednesday afternoon. They were at the Buffalo National River to celebrate the birthday of Daniella and her sister, who turns 5 on Friday. The girls also have an 8-year-old brother.
Nunez said Wednesday that the experience with Daniella was too difficult to recount.
"It's a miracle she's still alive," Nunez said. "She was born today. For me, it was like God gave her to me again."
Metro on 07/03/2014