Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Toddler pulled from banks of Willamette River

Yamhill County river patrol rescues 3-year-old Saturday

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 7/6/2010 9:36:10 PM

A Yamhill County Sheriff's Marine Patrol boat rescued a 3-year-old toddler Saturday afternoon along the banks of the Willamette River near Wilsonville.

According to a press release from the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office, the boy was rescued 1 p.m. Saturday from a mud bank that had buried him up to his chest.

While on routine patrol between the I-5 bridge and the Boones Ferry boat ramp, the crew of a Yamhill County Sheriff's Marine Patrol boat spotted what appeared to be two dogs struggling in a mud flat on the South side of the River.

Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree wrote in a press release that the site was below a forested area 100 to 150 yards East of the last house in a group of houses along the South shore.

"As my deputies approached what they thought was a medium size brown dog and a yellow/blond smaller terrier dog, they quickly realized that the smaller yellow dog was actually a small boy" Crabtree said. "The toddler and the dog were about 5 feet from the water line attempting to wade, swim, and slog through the mud which was 2 to 3 foot deep, at times up to the toddlers chest. I would estimate the mud flat to be about 30 feet wide from the shore line to the water line and 200 feet long".

The deputies approached an abandoned dock structure near the boy and Deputy Samerdyke got off the vessel and with great difficulty, pulled the toddler out of the mud and onto the dock. After securing the patrol boat, they then attempted to get the dog out of the mud. After a bit of a struggle, the frightened dog was able to make it to the shoreline and disappeared into the trees.

The toddler was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, no shoes and no flotation device. He was not able to articulate his last name or where he lived. After contacting their dispatch center, the deputies eventually received information from Clackamas County of a 9-1-1 call reporting a missing toddler.

Through cooperation between the two dispatch agencies, the boy's parents were directed to the marine deputies where they were reunited with their son.

Deputies later learned that the dog had made it through the forest and back to their house.

"We are so grateful that vigilant deputies were in the right place at the right time, with the right equipment to effect this rescue" Sheriff Crabtree said. "Both deputies later commented on how it caught them off guard to see such a small child alone on that remote stretch of river bank. They recognized the immediate danger the boy was in being so close to the waters edge unsupervised, along with the danger of being in waist/chest deep mud. It is for times like this that we operate river patrols throughout the season from the I-5 bridge to the Wheatland Ferry."

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