Couple saves man stuck in river

CLINTON, Ind. (WTHI) - A Wabash Valley couple saved the life of a 73-year-old man clinging to a tree in the Wabash River for what police said was for more than 24 hours.

A Vigo County couple taking their first joyride of the summer on the Wabash found something they weren't expecting Saturday morning. Thanks to them, an Illinois man is safe.

Nita Wilson and her husband were looking for wildlife Saturday morning but what they found was a human life.

"I spotted him, he was so red, his face and the top of his head," Wayne said.

Red because the man said he had been holding tight to a fallen tree since Friday morning, through a bright and sunny day, through a stormy night, unable to swim or make it to the bank.

"He said 'man, that was the scariest thing going through that storm last night,' I can imagine," Wayne said.
Wayne Wilson threw a life jacket over his head and helped the man get into the boat.
"How did you get in here, and he said 'I slipped and fell and I can't even swim,'" Wayne said.

"After doing some investigating he admitted that he had some emotional problems that had had been dealing with for quite some time," Detective Dan Whallon of the Clinton Police Department said. "He came here to Clinton from Paris, Illinois and just stepped out into the water."

"He just kept saying 'thank you, thank you, you guys, just thank you,'" Nita said.

"It definitely takes a strong person and at age 73, I think he did a pretty good surviving this," Detective Whallon said.

The Wilsons are just thankful their joy ride turned into something much more lasting.

"I thank God that it turned out the way that it did," Nita said.

Police are not releasing the man's name. The man was picked up at the Clinton boat ramp by emergency personnel and taken to West Central Community Hospital for medical treatment and a psychiatric evaluation.