Taxi man turns local hero

Jeffery Bowen, who braved crocodile-infested sewage water on the night of July 31, 2020, to rescue a drowning young boy, said he would not have been able to live with himself if he had turned a blind eye to the boy’s plight and he ended up dying.

The St Catherine taxi driver, who is very elated about being recognised nationally today for his bravery, is among nine persons who will be bestowed with the Medal of Honour for Gallantry during the annual National Honours and Awards Ceremony at King’s House.

The autistic boy, who is also hearing impaired, was spotted moving about in the murky and dangerous waters in a canal in Bridgeport, Portmore, St Catherine, sometime after 7: 20 before he was seen fighting to stay afloat. Bowen, on seeing that the child was in difficulty, did not hesitate and quickly sprang into action.

The boy, believed to be about 10, had wandered off from a nearby daycare centre.

Recalling the incident, the father of two said he had gone to the area to drop off someone and was heading home when a friend stopped him and told him that somebody was spotted in the water.

“So, when my friend tell mi say somebody was in the water, I’m like, ‘is a body?’ ‘Him say no, the person moving, so this catch my attention,” he recalled saying.

Bowen said he went to take a closer look for himself and did not see the person at first but heard movements.

Initially, he said he thought it was a drug addict.

However, on realising that it was a child, Bowen said he started to call out to him, but the child wasn’t answering although he looked at him with two piercing eyes.

“Me a call him like mi son, mi a say, ‘Papa’, but him just look pon mi and just continue; so mi know say something wasn’t right with him and I could see that he was cold, as he was trembling,” he said.

Bowen said the child continued moving towards the bridge and his concern intensified, because he knows that crocodiles are normally under the bridge.

“Me rush back to the bridge trying to get a hold of him before him go under the bridge. By mi run to the bridge him already duck under the bridge, so mi run to the other side,” he said, noting that persons had started gathering and was trying to video-tape what was happening.

Bowen said he called out to the boy and shortly after he was sighted on the other side, but quickly disappeared under the water.

“People start say a di crocodile hold him, some people start bawl say ‘Somebody go help him nuh!’ and some a say, ‘mi caa swim’, and some a say a sewage water and crocodile in a the water,” he recounted.

By then, Bowen said, two police officers from a nearby police station had shown up, but when persons cried out to them their response was that they had already called the emergency vehicle.

But Bowen said given that there was no time, he figured the only thing that the vehicle would be coming to do would be to retrieve the child’s body.

“I don’t know if him did a drown or if di crocodile dem hold him, but mi just see him hand like him try hold on or a try to come on top; and then a remember like him come up and him turn him face to where we were at, and mi see him give me the same look.

“It was the same look him give mi when he was passing down the stream, so mi know say really and truly him waa somebody to help him. That’s when mi say to myself, ‘Mi naa mek you dead today, ‘cause me have a son about the same age and me would want somebody to help him,’” Bowen said.

The taxi man said he jumped into the water with even his day’s pay still in his pocket and took out the child.

“I wasn’t really worried about the water even though it was sewage water, my focus wasn’t on the stench. I went in there knowing that crocodiles were in the water; my focus was on trying to help the boy.”

“I know that anything could have happened, things come across my mind – maybe you nuh go back home to your son, you could go in there and crocodile hold you instead of the boy. But once I made up my mind there was no turning back, because it’s really hard to see somebody in need of help and just turn away,” he said.

Furthermore, Bowen said, “I don’t think I could a live with myself, especially with that a play back in my mind, especially to see the next day dem a try fish him body out of the water, knowing that I could a try do something because mi know me can swim.”

In the meantime, Bowen says that since the rescue he has been hailed a hero everywhere in the community, and it is a very proud feeling.

“It is a great feeling knowing that somebody recognise you and appreciate what mi do; so mi just give thanks for everything and mi just thank the people who nominate me.”

Bowen, however, shared that he was not pleased with the behaviour of one of the officers at the scene, who refused to assist him with some water to wash off. He said that the officer, after leading him to the station, told him that he did not have any soap or water to give him.

Bowen said he left upset, but the other officer, a female, who was at the scene brought him back and gave him access to a bathroom.

Equally disappointing, Bowen said, is the fact that the boy’s mother, to this date, has never reached out to thank him, although she had sent a threatening message to him after he had visited the school and taken a picture with the child.

Nonetheless, Bowen said that his mother advised him not to let those situations cause him any regret and that she is very proud of him.

“Di bad treatment could have easily caused me fi turn mi mind from doing good, but based on how mi grow up loving everybody, even those who are not my family, it would be hard to walk past somebody who is in need and nuh help them,” Bowen added.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com