Sixteen-year-old Corion Evans is a Mississippi hero after her rescued three teen girls and a cop after a car accidentally drove off a boat launch from the I-10 freeway and sank into the Pascagoula River.
The terrifying event happened early July 3 when a vehicle carrying three teenage girls drove into the water near Moss Point – floated twenty feet from shore and started rapidly sinking. The Moss Point Police Department told ABCNews, “The driver of that vehicle stated she was following her GPS and did not realize she was going into the water.”
Without wasting time, Evans recounted to WLOX that he immediately ran over – removing his shoes and shirt – and dove into the water to respond to the three girls screaming for help. Although he was just a teenage Pascagoula High School student, he told the news outlet that he had been swimming since he was three years old, and the first thing on the young hero’s mind was saving the lives of the trapped girls.
“I was just like, ‘I can’t let none of these folks die. They need to get out the water’. So, I just started getting them,” Evans told the news outlet. “I wasn’t even thinking about nothing else.”
Moss Point Police Officer Gary Mercer was also assisting with rescuing the drowning teenagers. However, he found himself in danger too.
Evans sprang into action again, saying, “I turned around. I see the police officer. He’s drowning. He’s going underwater, drowning, saying, ‘Help!” So, I went over there. I went, and I grabbed the police officer, and I’m like swimming him back until I feel myself I can walk.”
“They was out there throwing up because a lot of water had got inside all of them. 25 yards out, so it was a lot of swimming. My legs were so tired after. Anything could’ve been in that water, though. But I wasn’t thinking about it.”
Everyone is equally in awe of the young boy’s bravery. Chief Brandon Ashley released a statement to WLOX saying, “The police department and I commend Mr. Evans’s bravery and selflessness he displayed by risking his own safety to help people in danger. If Mr. Evans had not assisted, it could have possibly turned out tragically instead of all occupants rescued safely.”
Victim Cora Watson posted to Facebook praising him for pulling her out of the fast-flowing Pascagoula River, “This man right here saved my life right before my last breath. I’m so thankful for him,”
Marquita – Evans’ mother – also posted, “MY HERO. My son saved four lives last night while risking his own life. Three females and a Moss Point police officer was pulled from the water [that’s] four times he went in that water fighting to save those individuals. I’m so proud of you, son, for not giving up and saving lives!!”
