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Sixteen-year-old Corion Evans watched from his car as three teenage girls went down a boat ramp into the Pascagoula River in southern Mississippi.
The girl who was driving later told authorities that the GPS was malfunctioning and that she didn’t realize it was leading her and the other girls into the water early Sunday morning. When the car began to sink, the three ran out and climbed aboard, according to a statement from the Moss Point Police Department.
“I thought, ‘There’s no way they’re getting into that water,'” Evans said.
Evans said he took off running toward the river and when he got there, he saw them in the water yelling, “Help me!”
“I took off my shirt, took off my shoes, threw my phone and just jumped in the water,” he said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview with The Washington Post.
Evans helped bring all three girls to shore, as well as a Moss Point police officer who responded to the scene but was pulled underwater during the rescue operation. The teenager and police officer Gary Mercer have since been recognized by Mayor Billy Knight (D) with certificates of commendation.
Knight said the board of aldermen wanted Evans to know “how much we appreciate his courage and heroism.”
“We’re always proud when our young men do the right thing, because a lot of times our young people don’t do the right thing. This young man was very selfless when he decided to jump into the water without even thinking about it to save these young people,” Knight told The Post.
Their father was drowning. They saved him using CPR they saw in movie scenes.
Evans, a rising senior at Pascagoula High School, said he and some other teenagers hung out late Saturday night and into Sunday morning. He was getting ready to go home and got into his car, which was in a parking lot under Interstate 10 not far from the river. He said the teenage girls, who have not been publicly identified, got into their car and put a home address into the GPS, but the GPS appeared to have predicted the girls were on the freeway, not under it.
Evans said the driver forgot to turn on his headlights and blindly followed the directions, which took them straight down the boat ramp into the water.
After Evans reached them, he said he grabbed the girl closest to him and helped her back to shore. He then returned to pick up the others, helping them onto the vehicle.
During Evans’ rescue efforts, Mercer arrived on the scene. He said he quickly removed his vest, camera and gun belt and began swimming toward the girls, who he said were afraid to swim.
Mercer said he tried to help one of the girls, but halfway back to shore, she dove underwater and began to panic, pulling the officer with her. Then Evans showed up to save them, he said.
“If he wasn’t there helping, who knows?” the officer said of Evans. “Anything could happen. I was already swallowing water.”
“I couldn’t have done it alone,” he added.
Ultimately, according to authorities, Evans helped rescue all three girls.
The girls are “doing well,” Moss Point Police Chief Brandon Ashley said in the statement.
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Evans said he had planned to leave early but sat in his car for a while. In fact, his mother, Markita Evans, said he missed the curfew. Later she learned why.
“He had a good reason, so I couldn’t be mad,” she told The Post.
Evans, who is a wide receiver on his high school football team, said he has been swimming since preschool. He said he wants to attend college and become a physical therapist or major in sports medicine.
Evans said he spoke with the girls after the accident and they told him how grateful they were that he saved them.
“I’m happy that everybody was safe, that everybody got out,” he said. “I’m just glad no one lost their life that night.”
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