Alec Justin Smith

Alec Justin Smith saved a boy from falling, Yosemite National Park, California, April 9, 2013. A 9-year-old boy entered the Merced River just above Vernal Fall and was carried downstream by the swift current toward the brink of the 317-foot fall. In another party on the bank at the scene, Alec, 16, high school student, was alerted to the situation. He immediately ran to the river, jumping over a three-foot-high railing en route. At the water line, he lay on the smooth granite bank, which was slick, and, holding by one arm to a knob in the rock, extended his body partially into the 36-degree water at a point about 20 feet from the fall. With his other hand he grasped the boy when the boy came within reach. Alec pulled the boy onto the bank, where another man then helped to secure them as they regained their footing.