Navy Officer Leaps Into River to Save Wheelchair-Bound Child, Caregiver; Hailed as Hero

Navy Officer Leaps Into River to Save Wheelchair-Bound Child, Caregiver; Hailed as Hero
Ian Delossantos/U.S. Navy
Updated:

A U.S. Navy officer named John Miller was out for an evening jog in Norfolk, Virginia, when he witnessed a desperate scenario playing out: a disabled child and his caregiver were floundering in a nearby river, and so the officer quickly rushed to help.

The lieutenant, a nine-year Navy serviceman, was running along the Elizabeth River trail when he noticed a man and a child in a wheelchair on the edge of the seawall. Shortly afterward, he heard a splash; the man and the child had both fallen into the water with the wheelchair still on the banks of the river.