3 . It was around 11:30 p.m. Corion Evans was hanging out with his friends near the Pascagoula River in July when a car with three girls inside fell into it. It came to a stop some 20 feet from land, and then sank. The driver had blindly followed her GPS.

Evans and his friends got to the river’s edge. In the darkness, they could barely make out the girls holding on to the roof, the only part of the car still above water. But they could hear screaming. Evans pulled off his shirt and shoes, and then dived into the water, a river he knew alligators (短吻鳄) call home. He helped the first girl he saw, keeping her head above water and leading her ashore.

Just then, a man called out. Police Officer Garry Mercer arrived. He dived into the river to help another of the girls. But halfway back to shore, the girl had run out of her strength and went underwater, pulling Mercer down with her. Evans jumped back into the water and helped them until they could stand. “If he hadn’t been there, who knows?” Mercer said.

There was still one girl in the water, Cora Watson, who could not swim. She was struggling to keep herself floating (浮) on the water, scared. “I thought there was little hope that I would survive. I just knew my last breath was coming at that time,” Watson said. “My mind said ‘You’re slowly losing yourself.’” She began to go under. Then, a touch. “Evans had caught me.”

The three girls and Officer Mercer were taken to the hospital and soon they were discharged. After knowing Evans’ act, his mother, Marquita Evans, said, “Corion Evans broke his curfew (晚间必须回家的时间). But I was not mad. He had a good reason. And he did really well.”