Renton Woman Among Water Rescue Heroes Honored

Corrina Wells couldn't believe that when she saw a man clearly struggling in the water at Gene Coulon Park the day before Mother's Day, no one thought to jump in to help him.

So she did, leaving her scared six-year-old daughter to stand alone on the shore and watch.

Turns out the man drowning had jumped in himself after seeing two boys who he thought were drowning. The cold water caused his legs to cramp up, and it was only later after he'd struggled some with the boys that he learned from Wells that they were only pretending. They had reportedly pushed off of him and left the water before Wells dove in to help.

Given the man's size, she had to call on someone on shore to throw down a life saver which she used to pull him to safety. He was transported to Harborview for his injuries and had been in a coma.

Nearly two months later, the man is recovering, and Wells was one of three citizens who were recognized as water rescue heroes Tuesday in Renton.

But calling herself a hero feels inaccurate. "It's called being a human being and caring," she said. "No one was willing to help me. You should always be willing to help whether you know the person or not."

Wells said she is not a strong swimmer but there wasn't a choice that day. She's since spoken to the man she saved by phone, and the two share an anger over several aspects of that day: why did the boys' parents allow them to play in water they shouldn't have been in, and why did no one else appear to want to help?

In mid-May, the water at the park was not officially open for swimming. It was cold, there was no life guard on duty, and the water was murky, but those boys were in the water. 

Wells said she was disappointed to learn the boys and their parents would not face any type of criminal charges for their crying wolf that led to serious injuries for this man. 

"He said watching all those men just standing there, 'I felt like, wow, this was how I was going to go out,'" she said.

Teens Save Lives on Lake Sammamish

Patrick Finigan and his cousin Ian Fursman also got a taste of that indifference too when they saved the lives of two teens at Tibbetts Beach on Lake Sammamish last summer.

They came across a group of teens were a boy and girl were clearly in distress and though the group was screaming for help, beach goers didn't react, said King County Sheriff John Urquhart as he recounted the boys' heroism. 

One man on a paddle boat reportedly saw the commotion and paddled in the opposite direction, Urquhart said.

But it wasn't like Patrick, 16, or Ian, 15, to just stand by and watch.

The boys swam to the girl who was reportedly flailing and making enough of a scene to get their attention and helped her to shore, Urquhart said. Then they returned for the boy, who by that time had become submerged in about six feet was water. 

When they brought him to shore, Patrick employed skills he learned during a CPR certification course he took at Sumner High School to assess his condition, and he determined CPR wasn't needed. 

Instead the boys helped him as he expelled a substantial amount of water he'd aspirated while he was submerged.

By the time first responders arrived, they were "in fine shape and sent home, thanks to Patrick and Ian," Urquhart said.

Of the rescue, Patrick shared that those situations don't always look like they do in the movies, though for the girl's sake, hers did so they knew she was in distress. The young man's situation was much less obvious if it weren't for a friend of his who was also standing by and calling for help. 

The boys said the group of teens didn't seem to be impaired or doing anything that was obviously risky. There was a drop off on the lake floor in the area the incident too place, but the unpredictable nature of water recreation prompted Ian, a sophomore at Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, to offer a reminder to always take safety precautions. "The water can be fine and turn dangerous in seconds," he said.

'A Lot of Sumner Left'

"Rescues like these are a good reminder that the water can turn dangerous sometimes and it can turn very quickly when it happens," King County Councilman Reagan Dunn said. 

And the risks are always there. "There is a lot of summer left," Urquhart said. 

Due to budget cuts, there is no longer a lifeguard presence on Lake Sammamish, and that is "very unfortunate," he said.

And with warmer weather than translates into snow melt in the mountains and fast-moving, cold waters down closer to sea level, sometimes it is just safer to stay out of the water.

If you must get into the water, wear a life vest and swim in areas where there is a life guard present, he said.

According to Tony Gomez of King County Public Health, there were 24 drowning deaths in King County in 2012. Two-thirds of them occurred in open water, and 9 of those deaths occurred in the July and August time frame.