GLOUCESTER , MASS. (WHDH) - A nurse from Gloucester was one of several good Samaritans who jumped in to help three children swept away by the current of the Annisquam River.
“I think it’s just instinct,” said nurse Kerri Ann Perry. “Being a nurse, I guess it’s just kind of fight or flight at that point. I just kind of jumped in and did what I had to do. I wasn’t even thinking. I just went at it.”
Perry and her boyfriend were out on his boat Tuesday night when they spotted a 5-year-old girl face down in the water. She says her boyfriend immediately swam to get the child.
“He just grabbed her and was fighting the current to get back to the boat,” said Perry. “It was a challenge but we got her back up on, and instantly I knew she was unconscious.”
While Perry was performing CPR, she says her boyfriend found a second child, an 8-year-old boy. Then, a 14-year-old girl struggling too.
“I was just, like, ‘get back into the water,'” Perry said. “At this point, I’m like ‘call for help.’ There was not much more I could do.”
Perry said her boyfriend flagged down another boat in the area and gave them the older children. Both boats made their way to the Annisquam Yacht Club to meet with firefighters, EMS, and the Coast Guard.
“Had it not been for the folks who pulled those kids out of the water, it would be far different,” said Gloucester Fire Department Chief Eric Smith. “The good Samaritan clause applies wholly and solely to them.”
Chief Smith said the children were swimming at Wingaersheek Beach when they wandered off of a sandbar and into the current of the Annisquam River.
All of the children survived and are recovering now.
“Just being in the right place at the right time,” said Perry. “Anyone would’ve done it.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)