Evan R. Scheck

Evan R. Scheck helped rescue a boy from drowning, Spencer, Iowa, May 9, 2024. The boy, 12, and his friend were on their bicycles attempting to cross a footpath on a flooded bank of the Little Sioux River when floodwater swept the boys downriver, separating them from their bicycles. While the friend wound up in wadable water amid a thicket of trees and bushes, the 12-year-old boy reached the concrete base of a utility pole on the flooded bank and climbed atop the base, which was slightly above the water’s surface. Nearby, coaching a high school tennis team, Scheck, 28, teacher, was alerted by a couple that the boys were struggling to exit the river. Scheck, along with another coach and members of the tennis team, then ran to the water’s edge on the flooded bank. There, Scheck removed his shoes and socks and entered the water, while the other coach helped to survey the scene and was able to see through one portion of the brush and locate the boys. The coach spotted the friend and alerted Scheck, who waded to the friend in waist-deep water and helped him wade to safety. Scheck and the coach then spotted the 12-year-old boy farther out, atop the concrete base. Scheck waded about 60 feet through submerged brush, then swam another 60 feet amid a swift, cold current that was too deep to stand in, with submerged brush still beneath his feet, until he reached the base of the utility pole, where he located an adjacent spot where he could stand with his head slightly above water. Scheck then convinced the boy to climb onto his back. Scheck attempted to swim back to wadable water, but he submerged and realized that he could not touch bottom and towed Benson to the utility pole’s base, where the boy climbed onto it. Within minutes, police arrived with a rescue disc fitted with a rope. An officer waded to chest-high water and threw the disc to Scheck. Scheck then coaxed the boy back into the water, at which point he grasped the boy with one arm while holding the rescue disc and rope with his free hand. The officer pulled on the rope as Scheck continued to kick his legs until both Scheck and the boy reached wadable water. All three then exited to safety outside the flooded area. The boy was evaluated at the scene before being driven to his home. Scheck suffered minor abrasions to his feet and lower legs but was otherwise unharmed.