“What she did was extraordinary,” an official said of Lillie Vehling’s heroic rescue
Credit: KOMO News/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Lillie Vehling was reading a book at Seattle’s Genesee Park when she scanned the water and saw three girls in distress at a nearby lake
- Vehling, who had previous lifeguard training and is a college water polo player, went into the water and brought each of the girls one by one to shore
- She was recognized for her bravery by the staff of Seafair, a summer festival
A college student who was at a Seattle park for an air show rescued three girls who were on the verge of drowning at a nearby lake.
“To save three people, I didn’t think twice about myself,” Lillie Vehling, the Good Samaritan, told ABC affiliate KOMO. “I’m just glad everyone’s safe.”
The incident happened on July 31 at Genesee Park, KOMO and Fox affiliate KCPQ reported, where Vehling was sitting and reading a book while waiting for the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels air show.
She said that she was scanning the water of Lake Washington after reading a page from her book when she noticed something wrong.
“There were three girls who were out pretty far by the buoy lane that they had set up, and they did not look very good,” Vehling told KCPQ. “They were already bobbing up and down trying to get breaths, and one of the girls was actually drowning the others in order to breathe, and that’s when I knew I had to jump in.”
Vehling, who played water polo at the University of California-Davis, and had lifeguard training, began getting the girls out of the water one by one and bringing each of them back to shore.
Meanwhile, the third and last girl found herself tangled in the rope of a buoy.
“Unfortunately by the time I had gotten to the third girl, it was just the top of her head that was there,” Vehling recalled to KCPQ. “I just saw her black hair in the water barely floating and when I got to her she was unconscious. I lifted her head up out of the water and had my arm underneath her armpit holding her up.”
Fortunately, the third girl regained consciousness. By that time, first responders arrived and administered first aid to the victims.
The rescue occurred amid Seafair, a multi-week summer festival in Seattle. The festival president and CEO, Emily Cantrell, learned about what happened and sought out Vehling. The festival’s staff later honored the Good Samaritan at a gala.
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“We knighted her as ‘Lady Guardian of Lake Washington,’ and she immediately had admirals coming up to her,” said Cantrell, per KOMO. “It was incredible having her at the right place at the right time. What she did was extraordinary.”
In the meantime, Vehling, who is eyeing a career in the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program, told KOMO she is looking to reach out to the families of the three girls.
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