Hero: Police Officer Puts Life on the Line to Save Someone

By Lindsey Henley
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: March 18, 2008

    Roanoke City Police Officer Dwight Ayers hasn’t been back to the spot on the Roanoke River since last January, but he remembers it well.
    It’s the spot where a hospital patient jumped into the river.
    And long before all the search crews arrived on scene, Ayers dove in after him.
    “I Made it to actually grab a hold of him.  We tussled for a little bit and got caught up in the current,“ Ayers said.
    Next thing Ayers knew, he had lost his footing.
  “We stayed under the water for several minutes until I couldn’t hold on any longer.  At that point I lost my grip and floated to the top,“ he said.
    Cold and soaking wet, Ayers hung onto a tree limb and waited for help.
    Not only was the river flowing at dangerous speeds that night, it was extremely cold.  In fact, the temperature outside was 25 and the water was around 40 – cold enough for Ayers to develop hypothermia in less than five minutes.
    “Some rescue workers with the hospital actually helped me out of the water,“ he said.
    For the most part Ayers was lucky, but the man Ayers went in after wasn’t.
    “I feel for the family of the victim.  I did everything I could.  I realize that now, and if I had the choice again, I would do it again and maybe it would be a little bit of a different outcome.“
    Even though this story doesn’t have the happy ending Ayers would hope for, it still has a hero.  It has someone who put his life on the line to save someone who needed it.