CAIRO POLICEMAN PULLS BOY FROM RIVER

CAIRO, Ill. -- A 10-year-old boy was saved from drowning Sunday by the quick action of a Cairo Police Department officer.

Officer James McNeeley was notified at about 12:10 p.m. that a boy was in the Ohio River and appeared to be struggling. McNeeley and Officer Glenn Childress responded to the Cairo waterfront and saw the boy about 50 feet from the bank.

A report of the incident said McNeeley stripped off his shirt, body armor and duty belt, swam out to the boy and pulled him back to shore.

"I knew better than to go in with that body armor and all that stuff on my belt, I would have sunk like a rock," McNeeley said in a phone interview Sunday night.

McNeeley said that area of the river doesn't have a bad current but the bottom is littered with concrete slabs. He said he'd never gone into the river there before.

"If we'd have waited he wouldn't have made it. He had gone under several times while we were getting to him," McNeeley said.

The boy, who was not identified by police, was unfamiliar to McNeeley. The officer said once he swam out to the boy, the boy grabbed on to him but wasn't panicking. McNeeley said the boy went under a few times as he was dragging him toward the bank, but the officer was able to haul him back to the surface again.

Childress and Assistant Fire Chief Charles Bridges assisted in the rescue. Once the boy was brought to shore, he was given oxygen and taken to Alexander County Hospital. McNeeley said the boy appeared to be in pretty good shape.

After the rescue, McNeeley said he took a moment to reflect on what he had done. "My knees were shaking a little bit," he said.