One of Waterloo`s finest, our very own Josh Wessels

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Advertise  |   Marketplace  |   Classifieds  |   Cars  |   Homes  |   Jobs Monday, August 31, 2009 12:06 PM CDT
Waterloo officers honored for daring river rescue

; MARGIN-TOP: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 2px; PADDING-TOP: 2px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f3f3f3 1px solid">By JEFF REINITZ, jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com
WATERLOO --- Five police officers have received kudos for their role in rescuing a woman who jumped into the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo May 29.
The woman, a 44-year-old Waterloo resident whose name wasn't available, had been distraught and was washed over the downtown dam near the Park Avenue bridge.
Officer Cory Allspach jumped into the river and held her above water, and officers Tyler Rice, Joshua Wessels, Brice Lippert and Steve Newell followed, creating a human chain to haul them back in, according to police officials.
The five officers received letters of commendation from the police department last week.
The incident started when the woman got into waist-deep water near the west side of the Park Avenue bridge at about 11:45 p.m. and called a friend to tell her she planned to end her life, police said.
The friend called emergency dispatchers, who sent officers.
Sgt. Sue Holmes tried to talk her out of the water, but the woman refused.
She let the current take her and went over the dam.
Normally, turbulence at the bottom of the dam would trap a person under water.
"Everybody thought when she went over, she went under," Allspach said.
But it had rained the night before, and Allspach says he thinks the additional volume helped move the woman downstream.
Allspach ran to the other side of the Fourth Street bridge and saw her bobbing about 30 feet from shore. She was going completely underwater at times.
Newell, posted on the Fourth Street bridge, saw her and ran along the shore, yelling for her to swim toward the sound of his voice.
Wessels got in the water, but the current kept him from maneuvering away from the river's edge.
Allspach continued running parallel to her.
He realized that if she continued beyond the Fifth Street bridge --- where the river starts to leave the lighted downtown area --- it would be impossible to see her in the darkness.
"I said it's now or never," Allspach said. He dropped his duty belt and wallet and jumped in when she floated past him.
He paddled out to her, put his left arm around her neck and swam.
He said the woman wasn't helping with the rescue effort, and he pushed her toward the bank where Newell, Rice, Wessels and the others were forming the chain.
After Allspach passed off the woman to the others, Lippert grabbed his arm, and the both swam to the side.
Allspach went home for a quick shower and then returned to work.
He said the swim ruined his cell phone, which he didn't have time to cast off before jumping in the river.
"The city reimbursed me for that. That was mighty nice," Allspach said.
This is the third time Allspach has received accolades for his actions.
In 2001, he received the department's medal of valor for confronting and arresting a gunman who began shooting outside the Walmart. Then, he and five others received a letter of commendation for trying to rescue two women trapped inside a burning apartment building in November 2007