George W. Greenway IV

George W. Greenway IV saved a woman from drowning, El Paso, Texas, September 5, 2024. At night, the woman, 27, had fallen from the border fence separating the United States and Mexico and tumbled into the fast-flowing, concrete-lined American Canal. The current swept the woman, who suffered a broken wrist and other injuries, toward the headgates of a wastewater treatment plant about 4 miles downstream. About 80 feet from the headgates, she grabbed onto a cable strung diagonally across the canal and hung on using the crook of her elbow. Greenway, 45, state trooper, was sitting in his patrol car a mile upstream from the headgates and heard a woman scream. He received a text from his sergeant to be on the lookout for a woman who might have been swept into the canal. Greenway drove to find a border patrol agent to open the border fence gate and heard crying behind the fence. He shined his flashlight through the fence and saw the woman in the middle of the canal hanging onto the cable. After the border agent opened the fence gate, Greenway removed his duty belt and jumped into the canal. Greenway grabbed the cable and pulled himself hand-over-hand to the woman. Fighting the current, Greenway grabbed her with one arm and wrapped his legs around her as she went limp. Greenway then grabbed the cable with both hands and, securing her between his legs, pulled her backward toward a steep embankment. Greenway let go of the cable and grabbed a rebar step, then hoisted her up the steps to a level surface. An ambulance took the woman to a hospital. Greenway was unhurt.