Oklahoma boys recovering after fall from cliff

SULPHUR – When 3-year-old Riley Duke slipped while hiking and fell nearly 100 feet into the creek below, his brother didn’t hesitate to follow after him.

The boys were with their grandmother exploring Rock Creek Trail on Bromide Hill in Sulphur’s Chickasaw National Recreation Area on Feb. 25. When he saw Riley fall, older brother Dakota Duke, 7, slid down the rocky cliff face, down the steep hill and then stopped on some flat rocks that end in a drop off, where Riley had landed in Rock Creek. A statement from the park said it was a nearly 100 foot vertical drop.

“I assume that Riley was going so fast down the hill, flipping and rolling, that he projected into the water,” said the boys’ mother, Amy Branom, 28.

Dakota saw his brother in the water and jumped in, pulling Riley’s head out of the water and waiting for help to come.

“If it wasn’t for him, his baby brother wouldn’t be here today,” Branom said.

Both boys suffered severe injuries, but Dakota has been discharged from the hospital while Riley remains on a ventilator in the ICU but is stable. Riley’s injuries include a broken forehead, two broken ribs, several face lacerations and damage to his frontal lobe.

7-year-old boy jumps off cliff to save his brother

Riley; Dakota; their sister, Brylynn; and their grandmother were heading back down the trail when the family’s dog stepped down onto a ledge. Riley was going to grab the dog when he slipped off the edge of the rock.

Branom told The Oklahoman that though Dakota didn’t hesitate in the moment, since then he has felt uncertainty on whether he did the right thing by going after Riley and putting himself in harm’s way.

“I’ve tried to tell him over and over again, that you 100% have done the correct thing,” Branom said. “You saved your baby brother. We’ll never be able to really thank him enough for what he did, honestly.”

Branom said her mother did not realize how dangerous the edge of the trail was, and that she didn’t remember seeing any signs.

“I’ve asked a million times, and what I’m understanding is, there are no signs up; there’s no guardrail up; there’s not anything just to kind of forewarn people,” Branom said. “I’ve read in a few different places that this isn’t the first time someone’s fallen from there.”

Wilkins said there is a sign at the very top of the hill’s overlook, but isn’t sure if there are any on the stretch of the trail the boy fell from. She also said she couldn’t remember any similar incidents on the trail in the last couple of decades.

How the boys were rescued

National Park Service rangers at Chickasaw National Recreation Area received a call at 5:34 p.m. that day that the two boys had fallen.

“(My mom) said that they ran, ran as fast as they could down the path,” Branom said. “They were looking for places where they could cut through to get there faster. And while she was going down the mountain ... she was on the phone with 911.”

Park rangers responded to the scene, along with Murray County EMS and the Sulphur Fire Department. Both boys were treated on the scene and taken to hospitals at 5:50 p.m.

“To find folks and get them to medical care all in a 16 minute time period, that’s not something you can do by yourself,” Wilkins said. “We very much appreciate all these folks that we work with on a day to day basis for helping anytime something happens in the park.”

Riley was sent to Arbuckle Memorial Hospital in Sulphur while Dakota was sent to Mercy Hospital Ardmore. Both were eventually taken to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital-OU Health’s trauma department in Oklahoma City, Riley by ambulance and Dakota by plane.

What condition are they in now?

Dakota was released from the hospital on Feb. 27, while Branom said she doesn’t know how much longer Riley will need to be treated.

His eyes are still too swollen to open, but Branom said he shakes and nods his head in response to questions and has even kicked off the blanket when he’s too hot.

“We don’t know if he’s going to be playing T-ball next year or if we’re gonna be pushing him around in a wheelchair,” Branom said. “We just don’t know ... It doesn’t matter what the future looks like, as long as we have him.”

The family is raising money through a GoFundMe, which can be found by going to GoFundMe.com and searching for Dakota and Riley Duke.

OKLAHOMAN FILE View from the top of Bromide Hill in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, Okla. Last weekend, a 3-year-old boy fell from the edge of a section of the trail, and his 7-year-old brother slid down after him and pulled him out of the creek. THE

PHOTO PROVIDED Dakota, 7, and Riley Duke, 3, are pictured in a provided photo. Dakota recently rescued his brother after he fell 100 feet down a cliff and into a creek below.