Robert Patrick Stchur saved Tara Billardello from drowning, Sidnaw, Michigan, July 5, 1989. Tara, 13, was attempting to wade across the Sturgeon River when she slipped on a rock and fell into the swift current. Unable to regain her footing, she was carried into a narrow gorge toward a 30-foot-high waterfall. On a rock ledge above the gorge, closer to the falls, Robert 17, high school student, saw Tara approach. He jumped into the water for her, striking and injuring his chin and a knee on a submerged rock. Surfacing, Robert grasped Tara as she washed by. With difficulty, he attempted to swim back to the wall of the gorge, but the current carried them closer to the falls. Reaching the wall of the gorge at a point about 10 feet from the falls, Robert and Tara were helped out of the water by others. Tara recovered from scratches and contusions. Robert sustained a contusion to his right knee and a laceration to his chin which required suturing. He too recovered.
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