Colton Crowe, age 10, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a fifth grader at Cherokee Elementary School, stands on the banks of Soco Creek where he jumped in to save his brother, Daylen Rodriguez, age 5, recently. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photo)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Staff
The waters of Soco Creek in Cherokee were up and raging on Friday, Feb. 4 following heavy rainfall in the area. After his younger brother accidentally fell in the water behind the Soco Creek Townhomes in the Wolftown Community, Colton Crowe immediately went into action.
Colton, age 10, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a fifth grader at Cherokee Elementary School, jumped in the cold water without hesitation to save his brother, Daylen Rodriguez, age 5.
Colton and Daylen were playing along the banks and the younger dropped a rope that he was playing with into the water. He jumped in the water to retrieve his rope.
“He jumped in and he was just floating downstream,” said Colton. “He was trying to get the rope.”
Colton added, “I was just scared. I didn’t want him to float down there so I just jumped in.”
Colton is an accomplished swimmer, but Daylen doesn’t yet know how. “I grabbed his arms, then pushed him to the side,” Crowe noted upon reaching his brother in the water. “Then, it got me under the water, and I had to get to the other side. I was scared. I calmed him down and told him to just never do that again. I told him to stop crying and I would get him home.”
During the rescue, Colton lost his shoes in the water. He carried his brother all the way home in the cold, shoeless. The water carried the boys hundreds of yards, and they got out just before Macedonia Bridge.
Missy Crowe, the boy’s grandmother, commented, “I don’t want to think about the ‘what ifs’, if Colton hadn’t been there, because they both could have lost their lives. An adult couldn’t have done what he did.”
She went on to say, “Colton said at one point he stood up and the water was at his shoulders. The good Lord was looking after him, that’s all I can say.”
Colton, the son of Kayla Crowe and Israel Rodriguez, enjoys playing video games and football, basketball, and baseball.
