During the Fourth of July weekend in Moss Point, Mississippi, a car with three young girls in it went off the road and into the Pascagoula River at about 2:30 in the morning.
It just so happened that a sixteen-year-old boy was in the right place at the right time.
The car drove off a boat ramp, fell into the river, floated about 20 feet from the shore, and then sank.
The driver of that vehicle stated she was following her GPS and did not realize she was going into the water,
said the Moss Point Police Department.
Corion Evans then took off everything but his underwear, kicked off his shoes, threw away his phone, and jumped into the lake.
He could hear the people’s cries for help.
Evans started taking swimming lessons when he was three years old, so he was sure that he could help.
He didn’t even hesitate.
I was just like, ‘I can’t let none of these folks die. They need to get out the water,’
he said.
So, I just started getting them. I wasn’t even thinking about nothing else.
Karon “KJ” Bradley, who was one of his friends, also helped him get the girls onto the car’s roof.
Officer Gary Mercer from the Moss Point Police Department got to the scene and saw that the teenager was already underwater.
Mercer was trying to get someone to safety when she started to panic, so he took a drink of water.
Corion remembered seeing the police officer trip, fall into the hole, and scream for help.
So, I went over there. I went and I grabbed the police officer and I’m like swimming him back until I feel myself I can walk.
Mercer and the three girls were taken to the hospital, where they are now doing well thanks to good care.
Twenty-five yards out, so it was a lot of swimming. My legs were so tired after,
he said.
Anything could’ve been in that water, though. But I wasn’t thinking about it.
Chief Brandon Ashley of Moss Point praised and thanked Corion for his bravery and hard work.
The police department and I commend Mr. Evans’s bravery and selflessness he displayed by risking his own safety to help people in danger,
he said in a statement.
Ashley also said that Evan’s efforts to save people might have meant that they would have had to pull bodies out of the water instead.
Officials from the city of Moss Point gave Corion a certificate of commendation as a way of thanking him for the brave thing he did.
Authorities praised Mercer for his “bravery in the rescue,” which he showed during the situation.
Corion’s mom, Marquita Evans, is so happy that no one got hurt. She thinks it’s because of how brave her son was, and she’s grateful for that.
Considering how dangerous the extraction was, she can’t help but feel relieved that her son was able to get out alive.
When Corion saw that the girls and Mercer were in danger, he didn’t wait to help them. He never thought about himself; all he did was focus on getting everyone else out of the water.
Cora Watson, one of the people who were hurt, thanked Corion on her Facebook page for what he had done.
This man right here saved my life right before my last breath,
she wrote.
I’m so thankful for him.
