Workers save elderly woman floating in Parker pond
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 12:32 p.m., May 21, 2008
Updated 04:49 p.m., May 21, 2008
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Four construction workers leaped into a Parker pond to save an elderly woman found floating facedown today.
Aslan Construction superintendent Bob MacTaggart helped his workers lift the woman from the water and he began CPR until arriving Parker fire paramedics took over.
"It didn't look good," MacTaggart said. "There were no vitals. And then I got a call that they got signs and she was breathing on her own," he said.
The woman was in critical condition this afternoon at a local hospital, said Sara Walla, a Parker police spokeswoman. Her name wasn't released pending notification of family members.
"I just pray that she's going to be OK," MacTaggart said. "This will be a great day if she makes it."
The drama began about 11:30 a.m. as the Aslan workers readied to crank up a pumping station they'd built at the water-treatment plant for the Parker Water and Sanitation District on Motsenbocker Road.
The Loveland workers noticed the woman wearing a bright pink top as she strolled on a hiking trail skirting the deep pond holding treated wastewater, MacTaggart recalled.
A workman saw the woman walking down a slope toward the pond's edge. She then disappeared. MacTaggart said she may have slipped on the slick clay material lining the pond bottom.
As workers sounded the alarm, McTaggart told a colleague to call 911 and he started running toward the far side of the pond.
"By the time I got halfway around the pond, my guys are in the water trying to pull her out," he said. One work jumped in despite being a non-swimmer and his buddies helped pull him out.
"My guys did an awesome job," McTaggart said.
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May 21, 2008
2:14 p.m.
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May 21, 2008
2:44 p.m.
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May 21, 2008
6:29 p.m.
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medina88 writes:
Hurray!!! Great job guys. Now we pray she makes it so that she can thank you in person. We need more good people like you in this world.