SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — On July 6th, Billie Rothenberger had an hour of free time at Lake Alvin to paddleboard. As she walked towards the beach, she never could have guessed what was about to happen.
“I started to hear a man, just his breathing was getting really, really ragged and the mom just sounded more and more frantic. So, I started hurrying, thinking that maybe I could, maybe they needed help,” said Billie Rothenberger.
A man and his 15-year-old son were swimming just past the buoys, but both were struggling to stay afloat. Rothenberger paddled out to them, and by the time she got there, the boy was underwater.
“I was kneeling on my board, and I had a life jacket kind of looped over my arm and I just started searching the water and I saw, you know, Lake Alvin is not the cleanest lake. So, I saw a shadow of what could be maybe the top of his head,” said Rothenberger. “And I just jumped in and was able to get my left arm around him, and I brought him back up to the surface.”
As Rothenberger was paddling out, Kent Walz heard the commotion from where he was fishing. He got to the beach as Rothenberger pulled the boy to shore.
“At that point, I started doing some compressions on his chest to make sure that he was breathing and his heart was moving,” said Kent Walz.
Yesterday, both Walz and Rothenberger received a Life Saving Award from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
“If it would not have been for their actions to get in the water to help save him, at the detriment of their own. Specifically by Billie, who had jumped in to help him and then by Mr. Kent acting so quickly to perform CPR. If they had not done that, I believe this would have had a much more tragic outcome,” said Garrett Welsh, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Still, neither of them are convinced they are heroes.
“Well, it’s a human reaction to, I think, to help someone out when they’re in danger or having problems,” said Walz.
