On Tuesday night, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents rescued two migrants from drowning in the Salinity Canal, including an unconscious woman who they found floating face down.
At about 10 p.m., near County 21st Street, Border Patrol Agent A. Gutierrez saw a woman struggling to get out of the frigid and rapid canal waters, while her child stood dangerously close to the water’s edge. Gutierrez immediately called for backup and rushed to help the woman. He saw a purse, which had been discarded on the road, and used it as a lifeline to lower to the woman. As he worked to pull her to safety, he kept the woman’s child from falling in the canal.
As Gutierrez was helping the woman, he noticed a man fighting to get out of the canal and a second woman who appeared to be unconscious in the water downstream. Gutierrez notified responding units, and once the first woman and her child were safe, he rushed further downstream to assist the other people in danger. The man was able to pull himself to shore, but the second woman continued to drift along the surface of the water with only the backpack she was wearing keeping her afloat.
Supervisory Agent C. Coleman quickly arrived on scene, wrapped a vehicle tow strap around his waist, handed the other end to his partner and plunged into the canal to rescue the unconscious woman.
“When I got there all I could see was her backpack; her face was completely underwater,” Coleman said. “I handed the strap to my partner, and I said, ‘Hold this and don’t let go!’”
Once in the water, Coleman was able to get ahold of the woman and then the agents on the canal edge pulled the pair to the bank. Moments later, the agents pulled the woman from the water and Agent Gutierrez, who is also an EMT, examined the woman. He found that she was not breathing, and he couldn’t detect a pulse. He began resuscitation and after less than a minute the woman began to breath on her own. Agents continued to provide medical care, including administering oxygen and treating her for hypothermia, until paramedics arrived.
The woman was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center for advanced treatment. On Thursday afternoon she was released from the hospital and brought back to Yuma station for processing.
“Agent Gutierrez, Supervisory Agent Coleman and the other rescuing agents would never say it themselves, but they are heroes,” Yuma Sector Chief Chris T. Clem said. “They took quick and decisive action to save the lives of those women and their acts show the compassionate and courageous heart that beats inside Border Patrol agents.”