CullmanTimes.com, Cullman, Alabama

Local News

September 1, 2009

Locals rescue 3 people at lake

By Patrick McCreless

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  • The boat dock and area where 5 people and a dog were electrocuted, Saturday afternoon at Smith Lake, is shown from the Williams’ family boat dock Monday afternoon. Amanda Shavers-Davis

    boat dock

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SMITH LAKE — Todd Williams swam as hard as possible.

His brother-in-law was floating face down in the water near a dock and was not moving. Williams was just a few feet from the dock when he felt an odd, tingling sensation.

“It felt like my hand was going to sleep,” Williams said. “It didn’t hurt until I got close ... when I grabbed it (dock), it shocked me real bad.”

But that did not stop him.

Williams was still being electrocuted when he pulled his brother-in-law out of the water by a strap on his life jacket.

“I realized he was completely unconscious and wasn’t breathing,” Williams said. “I performed CPR on him and he woke up and was extremely disoriented.”

His brother-in-law, Chris Holcomb, was the first of two people Williams, 21, of Phelan, saved and resuscitated Saturday at a residence on Smith Lake. Another of his relatives, Heather Sellers, helped save a third.

“My daughter (Heather) swam through the electric current and pulled a neighbor’s boy out,” said Ja Williams. “She saved the boy’s life.”

The three victims and their two rescuers were treated and have since been released from the hospital.

(Ja) Williams said she was hosting a family party at her lakeside residence, located on County Road 269, when the incident occurred. She said the incident began after her neighbor’s son, Logan Swofford, dropped the ladder of his family’s dock into the water and then jumped in with his pet dog. She said it appeared there was a problem with the dock’s lighting system that forced a current through the ladder into the water.

“When I went to stand on the top part of the ladder, that’s where the current was going,” (Todd) Williams said. “I was being electrocuted. There wasn’t a problem until that ladder went into the water.”

The boy’s family could not be reached for comment by deadline of this article.

Holcomb jumped in the water to help the dog after he heard it yelp, while Heather swam to help the boy, who had stopped moving. By the time Holcomb had reached the dog, he was knocked out by the current.

“They (family) said he was in the water for two minutes before I got him out,” Williams said.

While Williams was performing CPR on his brother-in-law on the wooden part of the electrified dock, his aunt’s sister, Tina May, had swam over to help, but succumbed to the electricity as soon as she grabbed the dock’s edge.

“Tina grabbed the edge next to the ladder where the current was stronger and it knocked her out,” Williams said. “It (current) held her hand to the edge. All you could see of her was her arm and the top of her head.”

Williams quickly pulled her out of the water — received another strong jolt of electricity — and performed CPR to get her breathing again. By this time, Heather had pulled the boy to her family’s dock, where he soon regained consciousness.

Shortly after the victims were pulled out of the water, members of the Loretto Volunteer Fire Department arrived to transport them to the hospital.

The dog did not survive.

Saturday was the first time Williams had ever performed CPR on anyone.

“I learned CPR from a health class in 10th grade,” Williams said. “It was just instinctive, I guess. It was like I was on auto pilot.”

Williams still has no idea how he tolerated all that electricity, but added that his body did not come away unscathed.

“Every muscle in my body is really sore,” Williams said Monday. “I’m just really fatigued.”

‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.

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