Carson City deputy plucks teen stuck in waist deep mud along flooded hiking trail
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Fri, 02/10/2017 - 8:12pm
A 13-year-old girl who became stuck up to her waist in a mud bog along a hiking trail near Combs Canyon was plucked to safety Friday afternoon by a Carson City sheriff’s deputy.
Kaitlin Schultz said she was “very cold” but “very happy” to be found safe after she had stepped into a four-foot deep mud hole and was unable to free herself along a hiking trail near Ormsby and Combs Canyon Road in northwest Carson City.
Using her cell phone Kaitlin called 911 at 4:27 p.m. and explained the situation to dispatcher Kim Tripp who provided the information to Carson City Sheriff’s Office Deputy Derrick Kepler.
As Kaitlin and her friend, also 13, were on the trail several hundred yards away from pavement, Tripp said the girls provided solid directions in which she was able to relay them quickly to two reserve deputies, Ramon Montalvo and Tulio Marroquin, and Kepler, who arrived on scene and went in to retrieve the stuck teen.
Kepler said that as he stepped in preparing to reach for her, he too sank in the mud with both feet, which came up to just up past his knees.
The two reserve deputies, who arrived before Kepler and guided him to where the girl was, Montalvo and Marroquin, retrieved a shovel from a patrol vehicle and used it and their hands to scoop the thick mud away from the deputy and the girl. As they pushed the mud away, Kepler reached down into the mud with his hands, grabbing Kaitlin by the feet to release her from the air pull from the suction underneath.
Kepler said he couldn’t pull her out by her arms because the suction of the air and mud wouldn’t allow her lower body to budge.
“They kept digging the mud away, enough so I could take hold of her feet to get her out,” said Kepler.
The girl was muddy, drenched and “extremely cold” by the time fire department personnel arrived. Kaitlin told Kepler she and her friend had been there for several minutes, possibly up to a half hour, before they decided to call for help.
Dispatcher Tripp, who was on the line with Kaitlin, talked her through the situation before Kepler arrived within three minutes of being dispatched.
“For 13 years old and being in that situation, she was as calm as could be,” said Tripp. “In that situation, we didn’t know if she would sink more if she moved around or panicked, so I told her to not move and advised her friend to stay with her, to not move around and that help was on the way. She really did a great job. They all did a great job.”
Kepler and the reserve deputies were mud-stained and soaked from the waist down, advising Sgt. Bill Richards that once they got to her, everything happened quickly, around three minutes, to get her extricated.
Wrapped up in a blanket and her teeth chattering, Kaitlin was checked by fire department paramedics on scene before being released to family.
Kepler, a father himself, wished her well and kindly advised Kaitlin to watch where she steps when she hikes, especially along trails that have recently experienced heavy, drenching rainfall.
