Teen Uses Lasso in River Rescue

A Montana teen's rodeo practice may have saved a life. Fourteen-year-old ranch hand-in-training Jory Thomas was camping with his family near Greycliff when they heard shouts for help from the Yellowstone River and saw people in the fast-moving water, reports Fox News. Authorities say a raft and paddleboard hit a bridge support, throwing four people into the river. Three were able to swim to shore, but one man was clinging to a cooler as it went downstream.

Jory waded across a side channel with the 12-foot rope he'd packed for the trip. "My first instinct I thought was try and rope him and drag him out before he gets too far down the river," he recounted. "Luckily, I caught him first try." The teen then began hauling the man back to shore through water about 10 feet deep, and the man was on shore by the time first responders arrived. "It's a really good possibility that search and rescue would've been looking for a body by that time," said Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg, per the Washington Post. The sheriff's office gave Jory a Certificate of Achievement for the July rescue.