Good fortune came in the form of a 16-year-old boy who saved the life of a stranger drowning in the Big Wood River on Friday.
J.T. Sutton of Hailey was getting ready to swim near the trestle bridge south of Ketchum at about 4 p.m. when he noticed a young girl floundering in the water.
"There were a few people playing in the water and I started watching them. Habit, I guess," said Sutton, who has been a lifeguard at the Wood River YMCA for the past two summers. "But it looked like the girl was struggling. Then she went under and did not come up for a while. I saw her pop up for a second and her lips were blue and she had a pale face."
Sutton plunged into the water and pulled the girl to shore. He said he was getting ready to do "rescue breathing" when the girl began coughing and breathing on her own.
"We sat there with her for about 45 minutes to an hour to make sure she was OK," Sutton said. "I can't remember her name, but she said 'thanks.'"
Alex Sloan, 15, a friend of Sutton's who was with him at the time, said the girl appeared to be about "10 or 11 years old" and was playing with a pair of younger children "a boy about 7 and a girl about 6."
"They weren't with anyone," Sloan said. "I don't know what they were doing there. They were playing this game where they were pretending to drown and the little boy said, 'Look, she is drowning!' and J.T. told them to stop it. Then, the girl got out in the middle of the river and started going under. She spent about 45 seconds under and J.T. jumped off the bridge."
Sloan said Sutton did not hesitate, leaping off the bridge and pulling the girl to safety.
"It was really intense. It seemed almost surreal. When he first pulled her out, I wasn't sure she was going to live, but J.T. knew what to do—perfectly."
That is no surprise to Dyne Jones, Sutton's boss at the YMCA.
"J.T. is an extremely conscientious and responsible young man with a terrific personality," she said. "He has been with the Y for the last two summers and is a great addition to our staff."
Modest, too. Sloan said Sutton did not even tell his parents about the rescue at first.
"I would have run home and said something, but not J.T.," Sloan said.
A sophomore at Wood River High School and member of the 5B swim team, Sutton is the son of Jim and Nancy Sutton of Hailey, and has a twin brother, Sean, and a younger sister, Samantha.
