Kevin Conklin

Kevin Conklin attempted to rescue a boy from drowning, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, August 4, 2020. The boy, 6, was playing in a 5-foot-deep ditch in a flooded area of a park after a tropical storm. The ditch was filled with murky water and a strong current below the surface. The boy submerged and was swept into a 25-foot-long concrete drainage pipe that extended beneath a two-lane street, and he was pushed through the pipe into a stream with a rapid current. Kevin, 16, high school student, was nearby, and he stepped into the water in the ditch. He put his head under the water’s surface and swept his arms in front of him but could not find the boy. Kevin moved farther into the ditch into water nearly over his head. He submerged, but after repeated attempts to find the boy was also swept into and through the pipe. Kevin tumbled into the stream and was taken downstream by the current. Both the boy and Kevin were assisted out of the stream by others. The boy sustained multiple abrasions; he recovered. Kevin was treated at a hospital for multiple abrasions, pain to his wrist, and exposure to cold water; he recovered.