Man tries to save Nashville cop from flood waters — and gets trapped too, rescuers say
A Tennessee police officer yelled for help for over an hour as he clung to a tree in rising flood waters waiting for rescuers, according to the local fire department and multiple media reports.
Another man who reportedly tried to help him also got stuck.
Metro Nashville Police Officer Hendrik Kruger was swept away in a flash flood coming home from work late Saturday night, the Nashville Fire Department said in a Facebook post. Kruger and the second man were eventually rescued, and Kruger was taken to the hospital with a leg injury.
“He got out of his vehicle and clung to a tree while yelling for help,” the fire department said. “A nearby resident tried to assist, and also got swept up in the high water. He too clung to a tree until they were rescued by a boat.”
Fast-rising flood waters caused by heavy rainfall in Nashville killed at least six people, CNN reported. More than 100 others had to be rescued.
Kruger was in his personal car on Saturday when he got swept up in flood waters near Milner Drive and Milner Court in South Nashville, according to the Nashville Fire Department. He was able to get out and find a tree to hold for support.
Nearby resident Joel Cummings reportedly saw Kruger go in, according to WTVF. But when Cummings ran out to help, the TV station reported flood waters “knocked him down and carried him away from land.”
People in the neighborhood reportedly heard their shouts and got the attention of a water rescue team. Rescuers said they couldn’t see the men and “could barely hear the screams over the rain.”
“All we knew at that point is there was two people in the woods somewhere there,” Pete Griffin with the Metro Swift Water Rescue Team told WTVF. “They were screaming and stuck in a tree and needed help and they couldn’t hold on much longer and we tried to move as quickly as we could.”
Cummings said they were clinging to trees for almost 90 minutes before rescuers reached them, the TV station reported.
