Students from St. Agnes School in Arlington were on a field trip to Baltimore when science teacher T.J. O’Leary sprang into action to save a father and son from the water. News4’s Julie Carey reports.
The St. Agnes school community in Arlington, Virginia, is buzzing about a teacher's heroic actions during a field trip to Baltimore. What started out as a trip to learn about genetics turned into one about heroism instead, as one of their teachers plunged into the Inner Harbor to save a little boy and his father.
It was lunchtime on the steps of the Inner Harbor during a field trip to the Maryland Science Center. Science teacher T.J. O'Leary was having lunch with the kids — when something caught his attention.
"I kind of see a seagull running and just see this little kid, like [a] 5- [or] 6-year-old, just jettin', bolting out over the end. Then I kind of the father maybe eight, nine feet behind him, just ran, jumped in."
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O'Leary quickly realized both father and son were struggling and unable to swim.
"I’m ripping my shoes off, like, didn't even think about it, just very, very reactionary," he said. "I jumped in; you know, we got the kid, and then I went out to get the father and he was just kind of in a panic and immediately swamped me. I said, 'I'm trying to help you! I'm trying to help you!'"
Christine Klauder, a parent attending the field trip as a chaperone, was watching from the edge.
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"At that point, the three of them were in the water and I heard someone say, 'He can’t swim,'" she said.
O'Leary says he was able to get the father in a secure hold, and Klauder, a former lifeguard, waded into the water to help.
"Mr. O'Leary was holding up the boy and pushing the dad, and I was able to pull them up onto the brick," she said.
First responders arrived quickly and checked out the father and son before taking them to a hospital. O'Leary says the boy was crying, the father too in shock to even speak.
"I'm like, 'Hey buddy, I’m glad we were able to get you in.' I said [to the dad], 'Your son’s a great kid, and I'm glad we were able to help and everyone gets to go home tonight.'"
As for O'Leary and Klauder, they both had go to a hospital once back in Northern Virginia, to get decontaminated from any bacteria in the water.
O'Leary's strength and size no doubt were a help with the rescue — he's a former college baseball player. But it was thinking of his own kids that really propelled into the murky water.
"I don’t think of it as [being] a hero," he said. "I feel like anyone in that situation would have jumped in and done it."
Klauder's son watched his mom jump into action.
"He was proud of his mom. He was like, you know, 'Good job, Mom,'" she said.
Both O'Leary and Klauder are hoping the St. Agnes kids returned home with a valuable lifelong lesson.
"If anything, I hope they look for opportunities to be better citizens and help people when they need it, and not to stand by and think someone else will take care of it. You know, you can be part of the solution."
Baltimore police tell us the father and son did not suffer any injuries.
