A brave daughter came to the rescue of her severely bleeding and paralyzed father just when he feared for his life following a bizarre diving mishap into a dangerous river in Louisiana, authorities reported.
The pair visited the Bogue Chitto River for a kayaking trip and to observe softshell turtle eggs near Bogalusa on the afternoon of June 18, when 46-year-old Michael Painter found himself in a life-threatening situation, he shared with The Post.
“Let me tell you something,” Painter expressed. “She saved my life. If she hadn’t done what she did, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said, praising his 10-year-old daughter during a Wednesday night conversation.
Painter, an off-shore oil worker, explained that his daughter Carson loves to visit a spot on the river where softshell turtles lay their eggs. She had just convinced him to buy her a kayak so they paddled there together.
It’s also a fun place to do front flips off the bluff, Painter said.
“Well I being the 46 year old trying to be the cool daddy, I said ‘watch this!’ I took off down the hill and I’m fixing to do a front flip,” he said.
At the last second, he said, he lost his footing and drove his head straight into a pile of big, jagged rocks laying along the bottom of the river.
Initially, Painter thought he was swimming to the surface.
The water was only a few feet above his head. He was confused.
“I can see the surface of the water and it’s not even a foot away but I’ll tell you, it might as well had been 100 miles away, man, and I’m drifting down the river. I can feel my heels dragging along the bottom.”
That’s when he realized he was paralyzed. Painter had broken a vertebrae and bruised his spine.
“I was helpless and hopeless,” he added.
The whole time Painter thought he was swimming his arms were just dangling uselessly by his side, he recalled.
“I can see the blood in the water all around me, man, but that’s the least of my worries. I’m thinking I’m paralyzed.”
At first Painter’s daughter Carson, 10, thought her dad was pretending – but then she saw the blood. She raced to the river, tripped and fell. She collected herself and sprinted toward her dad.
“I can’t hold my breath anymore. I’m fixing to die. This is it, you know, bruh,” Painter said, recounting his feeling of despair.
“I’m preparing for it. And it’s going to hurt.”
At the moment when he was about to surrender to his fate he felt his daughter’s hand.
“She grabbed my hand bro,” Painter said. “That was the biggest relief in my life, man.”
Carson positioned her dad’s limp head so that he could breathe as he dragged her to the sandbar. He’s a 6-foot, 200-pound man and she weights just 70 pounds.
“She dragged me as far as she could drag me,” he said.
Painter said Carson was crying and “squalling” so he calmed her down.
“I’m ok,” he reassured his daughter. “But I need you to do something,” he recalled telling her.
He gave her explicit instructions to paddle toward the car and grab his keys from his hat along the river.
Then, he told her, to get his cell phone from the car, find service and call for help.
“Man it was just hard to let my little girl go down that river by herself, you know what I’m saying? I’m risking her life to save mine,” Painter said. “She was scared to death. It’s dangerous for a kid by herself.”
As long as he could hear the sound of her paddling he knew she was ok. But worry set in as soon as he couldn’t hear her anymore.
Moments later, a wicked thunderstorm broke out. Lightening streaked the sky.
“It’s the damndest flood you’ve ever seen,” Painter said. “My head sticking out the water, sand slapping my face, hitting my eyes.”
An hour later, just as he was about to give up hope again, he heard the sound of a boat motor.
Carson had made it to the car after all. The first thing she did was call 911, then all of Painter’s friends. They formed an informal rescue armada and headed for him.
Paramedics arrived and got him back to the road. They had put his neck in a brace. He remembered how happy he was when he saw Carson poke over the top. His heart flooded with relief.
“Lord have mercy, man, it felt like an eternity since I had last seen her face,” he said.
Painter, who has regained his ability to move, said the doctors told him he came as close to becoming permanently paralyzed as you can. He needs to do physical therapy to help with his recovery.
This Saturday the sheriff’s office is holding a special ceremony for Carson at the local courthouse. She is receiving a citation for bravery.
“For her to feel special about what she did, it warms her heart,” Painter said. “It brings me to tears to see how she lights up. She did a grown person job, man.”
