Indianapolis Woman Saved by Bystanders After Nearly Drowning...

PARKE COUNTY, Ind.–An Indianapolis woman was rescued after almost drowning in Sugar Creek on Saturday.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says they were called about a possible drowning incident at Sugar Creek just before 12:45 pm. It was in a remote area of Sugar Creek that is nearly a mile from the closest road and surrounded by both steep cliffs and dense forest.

Investigators say they discovered that 35-year-old Bobbie Barker from Indianapolis was canoeing with her boyfriend when they hit a log which caused her to fall in the water. A man named Cole Riggleman witnessed what had happened and swam into the creek. He brought Barker to shore after she had been under water for roughly one minute. She was not wearing a life jacket at the time.

Barker didn’t have a pulse once she got back to shore. A licensed physician, James Malenkos, MD, witnessed what had happened and led another group of bystanders through administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Barker. She regained a pulse after approximately 12 minutes. Barker became responsive and alert within 30 minutes.

A Bloomingdale EMT and another bystander, Casey Bault, transported Barker via canoe to the nearest access point nearly two miles downstream where an ambulance was waiting. She was then transported to IU Methodist Hospital by helicopter.

“All together, an incredible job by these bystanders. They didn’t know the victim, they didn’t know each other, but they all came together and through their efforts a life was saved,” said Officer Luke Tincher, DNR Law Enforcement.

Tincher said these kinds of things don’t happen often, but they do happen.

“There’s a lot of traffic on Sugar Creek. There’s a lot of canoeing and kayaking that takes place on the creek. It’s a navigable waterway so people get out and take advantage of that and there are people swimming in the creek and everything but there is dangerous current in the creek and various portions of the creek. It might be very shallow and other portions there might be deep areas with undertow which is current under the water that you cannot see. So there’s certainly dangers in it and we’ve had plenty of calls to the Sugar Creek area but as far as this particular scenario playing out, this is a very rare scenario where people intervened and worked together to save a life. Just the sheer reality of it all, where people were, the roles that they played are pretty low odds that that would ever happen again,” said Tincher.

He says this is also a reminder about life jackets.

“Just a reminder, the importance of wearing life jackets when you’re out on the waterways. We’re getting into the boating season here and when people are out canoeing, kayaking, boating, if you’re out on the water, it’s always best practice to have that life jacket on in the event that you go over,” said Fincher.