ST.ANDREW, JAMAICA (HERO UPDATE) : All for a dog! 12-year-old boy, David Johnson almost died because mom threw his pet into flooded gully

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Monday, October 05, 2015    

THE 12-year-old boy who was rescued from the flooded Sandy Gully in St Andrew by a Good Samaritan late Saturday evening was actually trying to save his dog when he was struck from the edge of the gully by raging flood waters.

(L) Camille Prince, the mother of David Johnson, who was rescued
from flood waters in Sandy Gully Saturday evening, reflects on
the ordeal her son experienced. (PHOTO: BRYAN CUMMINGS)
 (R) Tariq Muhammad shows his friend David Johnson’s dog yesterday.
 (PHOTOS: BRYAN CUMMINGS)

According to David Johnson’s family, he and two of his friends had braved the heavy rain and gone to the gully, at Whitehall Avenue, to locate the animal that his mother had thrown into the flooded gully out of frustration.

But what they had expected to be a simple rescue mission turned into near tragedy that left his community in shock and highlighted the indomitable spirit of his fellow Jamaican — Orlando Brown — who saw the Swallowfield Primary School student’s peril and went to his aid.

“A him dog him go to the edge of the gully to go look for and the flood water sweep him from off the gully bank,” said Camille Prince, David’s mother. Prince spoke to the Jamaica Observer while sitting on the roadside at the front of her home on Whitehall Avenue.

Her eyes weary from lack of sleep, the mother said she could not find words to thank Brown, who lives in Ackee Walk, about 400 meters away.

“No words can capture how thankful I am to that man who risked his own life to save the life of my child,” said Prince. She had just returned from the hospital where her battered son is now admitted. Relatives said the child suffered injuries to his neck. He also had several cuts and bruises, they added.

“The dog was causing problems and causing me and people to be in argument, so out of frustration I threw away the animal,” the mother told the Observer. She said that about 5:30 pm on Saturday, when the rain started to pour, she was at home painting a stall which she uses to stock goods for sale.

“Him come to mi and ask mi if him could go over to him grandmother,” Prince explained, adding that after her son made the request he went missing. more