Naperville man pulls teen tuber from swollen DuPage River
A Naperville man is credited with saving a teenage girl after hearing her call out for help after she became stuck in the fast-moving waters of the swollen DuPage River while on inner tubes with four other friends around 2 p.m. Tuesday, Naperville Fire Capt. Mark Ziemnik said.
Erik Bock, 20, was working in his backyard with his mom when he heard distress calls from the river.
"I said to my mom, 'listen to that, it sounds like someone screaming - it sounds pretty panicked like someone's getting murdered," Bock said, explaining that when living near a river, there are a lot of screams and sounds, but this one sounded different.
Bock and his mom listened, then heard the word 'help' and called 911. Bock, worried that the police may not arrive fast enough to help the distressed girl, went inside, put on his boots and followed the screams for help.
"I didn't know how old this person was, didn't know if it was a young girl - I just knew I had to get out there and help in some way," he said.
"I knew it could be dangerous - we didn't know if it was someone stuck or something worse going on. I couldn't live with myself if we had to wait for police to get there," Bock said.
Bock followed the cries for help, saw the girl in the river trapped by construction debris and fallen trees and made his way toward her.
"By the time I was at the bank of the river I was up to my thighs because of the flooding. I knew it was going fast, but it was deceptively fast. I got swept off my feet, so I crossed my legs at the ankles like they teach on those survivor shows so I navigated toward her so I wouldn't get swept away myself," Bock said.
"When I got to her there was like a 10-foot 2-by-8 wooden construction beam pressing against her stomach and she was stuck in the back into a bunch of fallen trees. She was stuck pretty forcefully. I was able to lift that away and asked if she was OK," he said.
Emergency officials came up just as Bock and the girl made their way to the bank.
The girls went in the river near Knoch Knolls Park, officials said.
The girl's inner tube capsized around Sherri and West streets, while another one of the girls was stopped by emergency officials about 50 yards away, Ziemnik said.
Three other girls were carried by the quick waters to an apartment complex, where they got out and drove back to the original point to try and find their friends, he said.
Bock said the girl and her friends thanked and hugged him, and noted that the girl was very calm and collected, making the task of helping her out of the water a lot easier than it could have been, he said, given that he thinks she was stuck there for about 20 minutes.
Fourteen emergency officials responded with swift water equipment, which wasn't needed.
No one was injured.
Bock, who is currently studying theology at Notre Dame, said he felt that his sister's boyfriend Trent Steckel, 24, of Crystal Lake, who passed away after a July 2, 2010, motorcycle crash was with him during the rescue.
Steckel had just finished fire training and was about to begin working for the Woodstock fire department before he died after his motorcycle ran off the road near Crystal Lake.
"I really feel like he was there with me, and with us there. Helping people, saving people, that's what he was all about. That was his job, and his life. I'm glad I was able to share a little bit of that. I think he was looking down on us," Bock said.