'Stop! Stop! She’s under!' Police perform treacherous water rescue along dam

By Amanda Schmidt, AccuWeather staff writer

It was a warm, pleasant day in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, prompting some residents to take advantage of the city’s numerous lakes and rivers. What likely started as a fun idea quickly escalated into a potentially life-threatening experience for two residents.

Along the Des Moines River, two people found themselves in a precarious situation when their inflatable raft capsized near a dam. The Des Moines Police Department (DMPD) said in a Facebook postthat they were notified of people yelling for help near the Scott Street Dam in Des Moines around 9:30 p.m., local time, on Monday, July 29.

Six Des Moines police officers quickly responded to the cries for help and found two people, a 44-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman, “trapped in the turbulent waters of the dam.” The rushing water was so strong that the victims were “pulled below the surface of the water” at times.

Two people were rescued by the Des Moines Police Department after their inflatable raft capsized near a dam along the Des Moines River in Iowa on Monday, July 29. (Video screenshot/ Des Moines Police Department via Storyful)

Body cam footage released by the police department captures the dramatic rescue, where two people are seen wearing orange life vests and clinging on to a rope extended by the rescuers. There are a few heart-stopping moments where the survivors are seen struggling in the fast-moving water and even disappear under the currents at times.

“Just keep holding on; don’t let go,” the officer yells to the woman seen struggling in the water below. “Get your head up!” he shouts, as he tried to pull the victims to safety. Later in the video, the woman appears to disappear from view, and the officer says “Stop! Stop! She’s under!”

After the rescue, the victims were transported to a local hospital where they were treated and released. Meanwhile, the officers involved dried off and went back to work.

The police officers involved have not been publicly identified. The survivors were identified as a homeless couple by police, and DMPD Sgt. Paul Parizek told AccuWeather that they have since had a difficult time tracking them down.

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“DMPD is proud of the courageous and selfless commitment of these officers, and of every member of our family who serves this community, 24/7!” the police said.

The city is divided by two rivers. This spring and into much of the summer, Des Moines has experienced high rivers and flooding due to excess rainfall. Fortunately, the river levels were low at the time of the rescue.

“We don't have the flooding that we had two or three weeks ago, which would've made this 10 times worse,” Parizek told AccuWeather. “If we had the flooding that we had a couple of weeks ago, we wouldn't have been able to attempt to the rescue the way that we did.”

As the river water runs across the low-head dam at this location, it creates a spinning backwash called a "boil." According to Parizek, it’s not uncommon for people to get stuck in these boils and drown.

At the time, the water was low enough that the officers were able to walk out on top of the low-head dam and stand on it as they conducted the rescue. In the video, the river can be seen flowing swiftly over the dam through their feet, further intensifying the rescue.

A fisherman casts his line below the Scott Street dam in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 1, 2015. These walls of concrete, called low-head dams, outlasted their original purpose long ago. The seemingly gentle dams hid a a secret: they have dragged hundreds of unsuspecting people into their churning waters and drowned them. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The officers created a small human chain where one officer was at the lead, another officer was holding him and another person was feeding the rope.

“You can see what a physical feat it was for these officers to fight against that turbulent water to pull these folks out,” Parizek said. Despite the struggle, the police were able to pull the folks to safety. “Everything that happened here, everything fell into place perfectly,” Parizek added.

The police officers in this video had just started their night shift and were two blocks away at the gas station preparing their vehicle for the night when they received the call. They were able to deploy much faster than the wet team was able to get boats in the river.

The majority of cops involved in the rescue were relatively new to the force, but they were able to calmly and effectively carryout the procedure, according to Parizek.

At the time of the rescue, the weather conditions were fairly calm. Temperatures were in the upper 70s and it was partly cloudy with a light breeze, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Bill Deger.

While the weather was calm, Parizek said that they do not recommend going on the river in the dark, particularly after the flooding that the city has recently experienced.

“Our lakes and rivers are inviting places to relax, cool off, and play during the summer. Please, be safe and aware of your surroundings,” the police said in the Facebook post, urging residents to wear a lifejacket, to follow the posted warnings near dams, and turn around or exit.

“Too often, going over the dam will trap a person in the spinning waters, and the results are fatal. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending,” the Facebook post reads.