Two men save a man after his boat sinks in the Tennessee River

JACKSON, Tenn.– Two men spend their days working in law enforcement and in a hospital setting. On their day off, they still found themselves helping others.

Darrell Elder and his son Nick were enjoying a nice day with their families at the Tennessee River trying to find a picnic spot when they came across a boat sinking in the middle of the river.

“The boat was probably 3/4 underwater and a man was inside the boat, so as we got closer the boat rolled over and the man was out in the river,” Darrell Elder said.

The Elders say the older man didn’t have his life vest on correctly and was stranded in deep water.

“I mean, you’re floating out there in the middle of the river and boats are flying this way, that way. Somebody could have possibly hit him. He could have possibly just wore out, exhaustion. I mean, you could see his life jacket over his head instead of on him. He could have just fell out of his life jacket, exhausted, heart attack, anything,” Darrell Elder said.

They quickly got to the man and helped pull him out of the water.

“He didn’t have much to say, he was kind of having a hard time breathing at this point. He just kept saying let me catch my breath,” Nick Elder said.

Then shortly after, they got him to the marina safely.

“Another pontoon had tied on to his boat which was upside down. He was in our boat, and we took them a mile and a half, two miles up the river to another creek,” Darrell Elder said.

The man’s boat was heavily damaged and all of his belongings on board were gone. Although they didn’t get his full name or keep in touch with the man they saved, they hope maybe one day he’ll pay the kindness forward. Elder says it was a situation of being in the right place at the right time.