"She told me she loved me and I told her I love you too or I wouldn't be in here with you," said Detroit Police Officer Brian Gadwell about a woman who fell into the Detroit River as he was desperately trying to keep her from drowning.
"I thought I was going to die," said Gadwell who spoke about the heroic act Tuesday with his partner, Officer Steven Rauser.
The veteran officers from the 4th precinct were working overtime late Tuesday night when they were called to respond to a woman in the river. It's unclear how the woman fell into the water.
When they arrived at the location in Riverside Park, a couple of citizens were trying to help the woman by sticking out a tree branch for her to grab to keep her above water.
Officer Gadwell jumped in first and grabbed some rebar to hang onto as he wrapped his legs around the woman to keep her head above water.
But Gadwell soon felt as if he was going to lose his grip and get swept away with the woman in the current.
That's when his partner had to jump in after him.
Thankfully, police, fire and EMS crews quickly responded and a J.W. Westcott mailboat also arrived to help the officers and the woman.
All three were pulled from the water.
The woman was rushed to a local hospital where doctors performed an emergency C-section to save her baby.
Officers Gadwell and Rauser had not known she was pregnant.
"She was definitely fighting for her life," Rauser said.
Police Chief James Craig credits the officers as well as the citizens who jumped into action for saving the woman and her baby.
Click on the video above to see what happened after the rescue that might just be proof that the two heroic officers are also great dads!
