NEXT TO OUR LATEST SALUTE TO HERO STORY. AS WE’VE BEEN TELLING YOU, THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IS HONORING LOCAL FIRST RESPONDERS, MILITARY MEMBERS AND GOOD SAMARITANS FOR THEIR CONTRIBUE MISSIONS TO THE PIEDMONT. TRY IT. THE AWARD CEREMONY IS SEPTEMBER 22ND AT THE MILLENNIUM CENTER IN WINSTON-SALEM. TONIGHT’S HERO IS A LOCAL POLICE OFFICER WHOSE MAIN RESPONSIBILITY IS KEEPING DRUGS OFF THE STREETS OF ASHEBORO. BUT HE’S BEING FOR SOMETHING HE DID WHILE HE WAS OFF THE CLOCK AND ALSO WHILE HE WAS UNDER WATER. HERE’S TRAVIS CURRY. WHEN LIEUTENANT TRAVIS CURRY ISN’T SERVING AND PROTECTING THE PEOPLE OF ASHEBORO, HE LOVES TO FISH. MY DADDY BROUGHT ME UP IN BOAT AND I BROUGHT MY KIDS UP IN A BOAT. NORMALLY, IF I’M NOT WORKING SOMEWHERE, I’M FISHING. HE AND HIS FAMILY DON’T COME TO RAMSEUR LIKE MUCH, BUT THEY WERE PLANNING AN AFTERNOON ON THE WATER JUNE 7TH OF 2020. THIS IS A GOOD SPOT TO GET AWAY. IT’S NOT VERY MUCH TRAFFIC OVER HERE. SO IF YOU WANT TO JUST A NICE, SMOOTH DAY ON THE LAKE. THIS IS THIS IS GOOD PLACE TO COME TO THAT DAY. HOWEVER, WAS ANYTHING BUT SMOOTH. WE PULLED. PAID LIKE WE NORMALLY DO. AND WENT TO PULL DOWN TO PUT THE BOAT IN. I NOTICED THE OLDER GENTLEMAN STRUGGLING A LITTLE BIT TO GET OUT. IT WAS CHAOTIC AND HE DIDN’T THINK ANYTHING OF IT, JUST KEPT ON DRIVING AROUND A CIRCLE HERE. AND WHEN I GOT OUT MY TRUCK TURN ON MY BOAT, I NOTICED THERE WERE SEVERAL PEOPLE RUNNING DOWN, SCREAMING. THE MAN’S KAYAK UPSIDE DOWN. AND HE HAD UNDER. I RAN DOWN TO DOCK AND JUMPED IN TOWARD HIS KAYAK WHERE HE WAS IT. I FOUND HIM ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE, UNCONSCIOUS. I WAS ABLE TO PULL HIM OUT AND LIFT HIM UP OVER MY HEAD. I WAS WALKING TOWARD THE DOCK WITH OUT OF THE WATER, BUT I WAS STILL UNDER THE WATER. IT’S ABOUT SIX FEET DEEP IN THIS PART OF THE LAKE. AND YOU CAN’T SEE MUCH OF ANYTHING. LIEUTENANT CURRY WAS ABLE TO GET THE MAN TO SHORE AND HIS YOUNGEST SON, ADAM, 13, AT THE TIME, HAD ALREADY CALLED 911. I NOTICED THAT THE GENTLEAN BREATHING IN SPACE BODY WAS TURNING BLUE. SO I BEGAN DOING CPR ON HIM. AND BEFORE HIM THIS GOT HERE, WE WERE ABLE TO GET HIM BACK. IT WAS A RELIEF. YOU KNOW, YOU NEVER WANT TO SEE ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO ANYBODY, ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, MY KID HERE. MY WIFE WAS HERE, ALL THE BYSTANDERS THAT WAS OUT HERE. HE SAVED A LIFE BY RISKING HIS OWN. HOW CONCERNED WERE YOU FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY? HOW DID YOU BREATHE DURING ALL THIS? TO BE HONEST, I DON’T KNOW. THAT REALLY DIDN’T CONCERN ME AT THE TIME. MY PURPOSE, I THINK THAT DAY WAS I WAS PUT HERE FOR A REASON. THAT’S THAT’S JUST WHAT HAPPENED. LIEUTENANT CURRY SAYS THE MAN WAS DISORIENTED, BUT MOSTLY CALM UNTIL AMBULANCE CAME TO TAKE HIM TO BE CHECKED OUT. HE SAYS HE’S NOT A HERO, BUT DEFINITE GLAD HIS YOUNGEST BOY WAS THERE. I THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY NEAT THAT MY SON ACTUALLY GOT TO SEE THAT. YOU KNOW, HE WAS REALLY SMALL, LIKE, COME AND TELL HIM SOME THINGS THAT I WOULD DO AT WORK. SO I THINK I THINK THAT’S SOMETHING THAT HE NEEDED TO SEE ME. I’M PROUD OF MY SON BECAUSE WHEN I GOT THIS GUY IN THE WATER, HE WAS ALREADY ON THE PHONE NOW. AND SO AUTOMATICALLY KNEW WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO. SO AS A FATHER, THAT WAS A PROUD, PROUD MOMENT FOR ME. LIEUTENANT CURRY SAYS HE HAS NOT SEEN THE MAN SINCE THAT DAY, BUT PEOPLE AT RAM’S ARE, LIKE TOLD HIM HE DID COME BACK A FEW DAYS LATER TO GET HIS THINGS. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SALUTE TO HEROES PROGRAM OR PURCHASE TICKETS TO NEXT WEEK’S AWARD. HEAD TO WXII TWITTER.COM AND BE SURE TO LOOK FOR MORE. SALUTE HEROES STORIES EVERY
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Salute to heroes: Asheboro police officer saves drowning man’s life
Lt. Travis Curry will be honored at September 22 awards ceremony in Winston-Salem
Updated: 7:58 PM EDT Sep 15, 2022
The American Red Cross will recognize Lt. Travis Curry of the Asheboro Police Department at its annual Salute to Heroes event after he saved a drowning man at Ramseur Lake two summers ago.Curry, who admits that he’s usually fishing when he’s not working, was just starting a family lake outing on June 7, 2020, when he spotted activity near the dock.”I noticed an older gentleman struggling a little bit to get out of his kayak. I didn’t think anything of it, kept on driving around the circle down here and when I got out of my truck to unhook my boat, I noticed there were several people running down, screaming,” he said.Curry immediately rushed to help once he noticed the man’s kayak was upside down and he had not resurfaced.”I ran down to the dock and jumped in, toward his kayak where he was at. I found him on the bottom of the lake, unconscious. I was able to pull him out and lift him up over my head. I was walking toward the dock with him out of the water but I was still under the water,” Curry said.The lake is about 6 feet deep there and visibility is low. Curry was able to get the man to shore and his youngest son, Adam, who was just 13 years old at the time, had already called 911. Curry performed CPR and says the man regained consciousness shortly before EMS arrived.”It was a relief. You never want to see anything bad to happen to anybody, especially, you know, my kid was here, my wife was here,” he said. “I thought it was pretty neat that my son actually got to see that. You know when he was really small I would come home and tell him some things that I would do at work, so I think that’s something he needed to see. Me? I’m proud of my son because when I got this guy out of the water, he was already on the phone with 911 so he automatically knew what to do. So as a father that was a proud moment for me.”Curry, who lives in Farmer, North Carolina and has been with the city of Asheboro for 18 years, says he has not seen the man since he saved him from the water that day.You can purchase tickets to this year’s Salute to Heroes event, which is scheduled for Sept. 22 at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem, by visiting the American Red Cross website.
The American Red Cross will recognize Lt. Travis Curry of the Asheboro Police Department at its annual Salute to Heroes event after he saved a drowning man at Ramseur Lake two summers ago.
Curry, who admits that he’s usually fishing when he’s not working, was just starting a family lake outing on June 7, 2020, when he spotted activity near the dock.
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“I noticed an older gentleman struggling a little bit to get out of his kayak. I didn’t think anything of it, kept on driving around the circle down here and when I got out of my truck to unhook my boat, I noticed there were several people running down, screaming,” he said.
Curry immediately rushed to help once he noticed the man’s kayak was upside down and he had not resurfaced.
“I ran down to the dock and jumped in, toward his kayak where he was at. I found him on the bottom of the lake, unconscious. I was able to pull him out and lift him up over my head. I was walking toward the dock with him out of the water but I was still under the water,” Curry said.
The lake is about 6 feet deep there and visibility is low. Curry was able to get the man to shore and his youngest son, Adam, who was just 13 years old at the time, had already called 911. Curry performed CPR and says the man regained consciousness shortly before EMS arrived.
“It was a relief. You never want to see anything bad to happen to anybody, especially, you know, my kid was here, my wife was here,” he said. “I thought it was pretty neat that my son actually got to see that. You know when he was really small I would come home and tell him some things that I would do at work, so I think that’s something he needed to see. Me? I’m proud of my son because when I got this guy out of the water, he was already on the phone with 911 so he automatically knew what to do. So as a father that was a proud moment for me.”
Curry, who lives in Farmer, North Carolina and has been with the city of Asheboro for 18 years, says he has not seen the man since he saved him from the water that day.
You can purchase tickets to this year’s Salute to Heroes event, which is scheduled for Sept. 22 at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem, by visiting the American Red Cross website.