Local golfer saves boy in river
A Calgary golfer swung into action Friday to save a seven-year-old from drowning in the Sheep River.
Performing what one witness called “a full-on act of heroism,” Reef Caulder spotted a boy struggling in the fast-moving water, scrambled down a tricky slope and raced to pull him from the water.
“I feel like I would’ve done what anybody else would’ve done in the same position,” said Caulder, 36.
“At the time, there wasn’t really a thought that went through my mind as to, ‘Is this safe? Is this right?’ It was, ‘I’m the closest person to this child.’ Luckily everything worked out.”
Caulder was participating in the Calgary Golf Association’s City Match Play at River’s Edge Golf Club in Okotoks when the drama unfolded shortly before 5 p.m. Friday.
He was about to win his match against Brent Boeckx, putting for victory on the sixth green, when they heard screams from the river alongside the course.
Those yells quickly turned into obvious calls of distress. The golfers called 911 and tried to spot the trouble below.
“I could see down the river there was a floating tube, and about 30 feet up the river there was somebody just tumbling and going under and tumbling and going under,” Caulder said.
“I could see how far away the nearest person was compared to where I was, and even though there was quite a treacherous cliff and a jump (of 10 feet) down to where I could get to him, I was the closest and only chance for him.”
Boeckx stayed on the phone with emergency services as Caulder navigated the steep terrain down to the river.
“Reef was like, ‘That kid could die,’ ” said Boeckx, adding the boy was wearing a life-jacket.
“And Reef jumps over the rail (of the golf path) and hops down that cliffside, which was crazy, in his golf clothes. By the time he got down to where the river is, the kid was probably about a good 70 or 80 yards past him floating down the river. And Reef ran into the river and got the kid.”
“It was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen,” said fellow golfer Rhys Royer, who was on the seventh tee box about 250 yards away.
“I’m not sure how he got down that ledge unscathed. It must’ve been about 100, 150 feet to the river’s edge.”
Once Caulder reached the river, he raced onto a sand berm, quickly emptied his pockets, jumped into the water and waded waist-deep into the river to where the child was.
“The boy was about 40 feet into the river clinging to a rock,” Caulder said.
“And when I picked him up, he was pretty much noodle-like, barely coherent and shivering and cold and in shock. And as soon as I got him to shore, he was throwing up because I guess he had a lot of water in his stomach and lungs.”
After wrapping up the boy to get him warm, Caulder then piggybacked the child on shore back to the sand berm, so that people upstream could see they were OK.
“It was literally the most heroic thing I’ve ever seen,” Boeckx said. “That kid was drowning, and Reef sacrificed and jumped in and helped the kid.
“That was well before any fire or EMS or anyone got there. It was all Reef, 100 per cent.”
Caulder says it seemed like 20 minutes or longer before help arrived, and then he helped EMS get the boy back up the cliff.
“It’s great to see the quick response and excellent team effort of all involved,” said Cpl. Teri-ann Bakker of the RCMP.
“It’s what enabled everyone to complete a safe and successful rescue.”
After his efforts, Caulder had to walk back to the clubhouse in bare feet, but did get to see the boy in the back of an ambulance an hour later.
Okotoks RCMP say a woman, who also went into the water in an attempt to rescue the child, was taken to hospital for medical treatment along with the boy.
Everyone is said to be in good condition.
Now, everybody at the weekend match-play event is talking about Caulder.
“It was remarkably selfless, and it was a full-on act of heroism,” Boeckx said.
“I’m just so happy it turned out well,” added Caulder, a self-proclaimed ‘wild child in the woods’ native of Vancouver Island who’s now a certified heavy mechanic living in Calgary and working with the CGA.
“From the state the boy was in from the time it took somebody (from EMS) to get down to where we were, I don’t know if he would’ve held on much longer.”
RCMP warned Albertans the water in the Sheep River is fast-moving and still quite cold. As such, they advised the public to stay away from the riverbank.