Community hails teens heroes after saving man who crashed into river
By Eli Higgins
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EL DORADO, Kansas (KAKE) — A group of El Dorado teens are being hailed as heroes after a man suffered a medical emergency and ended up crashing his truck into the river and they rushed into action and likely saved his life.
“I was scared. A little bit frightened. Worried,” the teens said.
Kendrick Jordan, Keaton Bryant and their friends spend almost every day at the Main 8 Dirt Waves BMX park in El Dorado. But Tuesday, the teens had no idea they were about to be in the middle of a life-or-death situation.
“Just to go help him and get him out of that truck, pray that he didn’t die on impact,” said Jordan.
They say a red truck was driving south on Main St. when it suddenly swerved off the road. You can still see the tracks where it ran over the corner of a flower bed, narrowly missing trees and power lines, flew through the air after hitting one of the BMX jumps, and landed nose-first in the river.
“If we weren’t here he would probably still be down there passed out or possibly dead,” said Bryant.
The teens rushed over and found 38-year-old Kirk Mefford unconscious and trapped inside after having a seizure.
Jordan says he punched out the driver’s window with his bare hand while the other boys grabbed a kayak to keep him out of the water.
“I lifted him up and unbuckled the seat belt eventually. Then I grabbed his hand, got him out, and we put him on the kayak all together,” said Jordan.
“We wanted to make sure he could breathe,” Bryant added.
The teens waited with Mefford until first responders arrived.
Parents Samantha Bourbon and Dani Kreusel say they couldn’t believe what happened.
“I flew down here, and they were in the process of helping him out of the truck at the time. It’s a really proud moment to see your kids doing good and doing good by people,” said Kreusel.
“He had blood on his shorts, and that was just kind of like a real moment, like, oh my gosh, like you were actually in danger, you know. And he had told me the story and my heart just swelled up,” said Bourbon.
Mefford met with the boys Wednesday to say thank you, and says he doesn’t know if he’d still be here if it weren’t for them.
“Everybody’s life is important. Why should his be any different? Like, why not? And plus, we were kind of like, shocked and surprised, so we just ran. Went to save him,” said teen Bryan Doen.
The teens say they had just been on the part of the track Mefford drove over, so they’re just grateful that everyone is ok.
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