KTBS 3 News | Shreveport, LA: ArkLaTex News - Cowboy pulls little boy to safety

Posted: Jun 18, 2009 6:55 AM
Updated: Jun 18, 2009 4:25 PM

A 6-year-old boy who fell into an abandoned water well in southwest Arkansas was rescued by a cowboy from a nearby ranch who used a lariat to pull the boy to safety.

Reed Nations, who happened to be passing by as the little boy's family tried to save him Tuesday morning, lassoed the child and pulled him out of the well before rescuers summoned by a family member could arrive.

Jonathan Easter was helping clear brush near the Doddridge-area home of his aunt, Joyce Maas, when he fell 20 to 30 feet down the well. She had sent him to get a bucket from the house when he stepped on the edge of the well, which had sand walls.

Maas and some other boys in the family could not get Jonathan out, so she called 911.

But before Miller County emergency crews could arrive, Nations drove by on his way to work at a nearby ranch.

He grabbed a lariat from his truck, lowered it to Jonathan and told him to put it around his waist and tighten it, Jonathan said.

After three tries, Jonathan was pulled out of the abandoned well.

There was water in the well but Jonathan got out with only a bump on his head and a small cut on his arm.

Nations was avoiding any publicity about his actions, Miller County sheriff's deputies said.

Jonathan had a message for him: "Thank you for helping me."

"Lucky," Maas said. "Very lucky. We were blessed."