NORTH BAY—The quick reactions of Brian and Rikki Boyd are credited with saving the life of an elderly man who had fallen from a dock at Little Current’s Spider Bay Marina and became trapped under the dock. Mr. and Ms. Boyd were recently honoured with an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Lifesaving Award at a ceremony in North Bay.
The Commissioners Citation for Lifesaving Award was presented to the couple by Commissioner Thomas Carrique of the OPP at an awards ceremony held in North Bay on November 21.
It was around 9:30 pm and the couple were moving into their new digs at the condos near Low Island in late October last year and were looking forward to a long night of moving boxes and furniture when a loud noise caught their attention.
“I heard some yelling, but I chalked it up to kids down at the skate park,” recalled Mr. Boyd at the time. But something in the tone of the voice he was hearing seemed off. His wife Rikki also heard the calls, so Mr. Boyd decided to listen a little closer—and soon realized someone down at Spider Bay Marina was in distress and calling for help. “You better go check,” said his wife, “I’ll clear up here.”
The two OPP special constables were off duty from their court work in Gore Bay and had recently moved back to the Island where Mr. Boyd’s father, Al Boyd, had spent a long career as an officer with the Manitoulin Detachment.
When Mr. Boyd arrived at the dock, he discovered an elderly man had fallen off a boat and was trapped under the dock, unable to extricate himself, desperately holding onto the dock in deep water.
“I asked him what pier he was on and I knew right away where he was,” said Mr. Boyd, who explained that he had once worked as a summer student at Spider Bay, and was very familiar with the layout. As he got closer, Mr. Boyd realized that the man had somehow become trapped under the pier.
“It seems the man was staying on his son’s boat and he is very elderly and not very mobile,” recalled Mr. Boyd. “He had walked down the ramp using his walker and it slipped, tipping him into the water. I don’t know how he managed to get caught under the dock, but he had apparently been there for quite a while by the time I got to him. He called out ‘I can’t swim.’” Aside from a risk of drowning, as the pier was floating in about 12 feet of water, there was clearly a danger of hypothermia setting in—adding another layer of urgency to the proceedings.
Ms. Boyd called 911 and the couple managed to grab the man and get him to safety, administering first aid for hypothermia until medical help arrived.
“I was leaning over the side of the pier, my arms and shoulders in the water,” recalled Mr. Boyd. “I told him I was sorry, but I was going to have to put him under the water again. He was stuck between the two pontoons that float the pier.” Mr. Boyd said that he believed one of the young adults may have also called 911. Two young men from the skate park assisted in pulling the man up over the dock to safety. “He told me he had been under the dock for quite some time, and by now he didn’t think anyone was going to come for him,” said Mr. Boyd.
“It was an honour to receive the award, but we were not looking for any recognition,” said Mr. Boyd when contacted by The Expositor.
“It was great to be able to visit with old friends,” said Mr. Boyd of the trip to North Bay for the awards ceremony. The couple had recently moved from that community and were able to catch up during their visit. “It was also great to see all of the amazing people who were receiving awards and who have done so much for people. It was nice to be recognized, but there are so many officers who do so much more for people every day and whose actions don’t see the light of day.”
