OGDEN, Utah — An off-duty deputy with the Tooele County Sheriff's Office is being heralded as a hero after saving two people's lives last weekend.
This time of year, rivers around Utah are full and flowing fast with the snowmelt from the mountains.
For the Ogden River, it's no different, and it makes for a beautiful sight. That's why James Peasnall and Tiffany Galloway decided to make the drive from Tooele to Ogden.
But as they were there enjoying the day, the unthinkable happened.
"I heard everybody screaming, 'Help! Call 911!" Peasnall said.
"I watched the little boy fall in," said Galloway, Peasnall's fiancée. "I watched [his] dad jump in after him."
Both were struggling against the current. So Peasnall, an off-duty Tooele County deputy, jumped into action.
"I just leaped from the top into the water, right on top of both of them and grabbed them," he said. "I was trying to grab for trees or limbs, anything that I could grab, and I grabbed one log and I held [the dad]."
But the current pulled the boy away.
"I just said, 'Stay here, hold tight,' and I dove back in and swam downriver as fast as I could," Peasnall said. "He was underwater and he brushed my hand and I just dove for that direction, grabbed him, and got him to the side, and there was a bystander on there and I handed the kid up there."
After going back and getting the father out as well, amazingly everyone was OK as first responders rushed to the scene.
"I’d like to thank the first responders on their response time," Peasnall added.
The rescue took almost everything out of the off-duty cop.
"I slowly climbed out because I was out of gas. I was so tired," he said.
It was a scary reminder of how fast things can change.
"That river can take you and it’s gone," Galloway said.
Peasnall's actions have now gotten a lot of attention from social media and the community. But he says he didn’t do it to be a hero or for any recognition. He just did it to make sure everyone went home safely that night.
"Hold on to each other because you never know when something like that is going to happen," he said. "Thank God I was at least there to do something."
