Indiana Man Drowns Trying to Save Boy From Water

June 24--A West Terre Haute man who died in a swimming accident in Edgar County, Ill., Monday night "got caught in the churning water," the county's coroner said Tuesday.

Jeremy D. Layton, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene by Edgar County Coroner W. Pete Templeton after Layton's body was found on a sandbar about a quarter mile south of a low water crossing of Sugar Creek on Staley Road, about a third of a mile east of Old Paris Road in Elbridge Township.

Layton, who had been trying to pull a young boy to safety, had trouble battling the strong current and was pulled under water, which Templeton said was about 10 feet deep. The other male adult tried unsuccessfully to help Layton, Templeton said.

Emergency dispatchers were alerted at 5:40 p.m. CDT that a group of three adults and four children had entered Sugar Creek just upstream from a concrete slab crossing over the creek. The creek was swollen from heavy weekend rains. The depth of the creek was about 3 feet over the top of the slab crossing, Templeton said.

A boy in the swimming party lost his footing in the current and was swept over the slab. That is when Layton and a second man attempted to rescue the boy, Templeton said. "One adult was able to reach the boy, but could not pull him out" of the creek. Layton also attempted to help bring the boy out of the creek, Templeton said.

Yet, the men could not hold on to the boy, who was swept downstream in the strong current. However, about 30 feet downstream, the boy was able to hold on to a piece of concrete rebar.

A cry for help from a nearby farm family helped to save the man and boy still in the creek.

"We were out working in the garden and working on the chicken building when a lady came up the road yelling that there were people in the creek," said Joyce Augustus, who along with her husband, own L&A Family Farms next to the creek.

Joyce Augustus then called 911.

"My husband went and got the rope because we always have a rope handy. This is not the first time we have had to pull someone out," she said. The family pulled one other person from the creek several years ago.

Kevin and Joyce Augustus, along with Devyn Chapman, a farm worker, immediately rushed to the creek.

"There was a guy in the water struggling. They said one [guy] had already floated down the creek and there was a boy down the way in the middle of the creek," Augustus said.

A rope was thrown several times to the man in the creek before he was able to get catch and hold on to the rope, Augustus said. The exhausted man was pulled up onto a concrete slab next to the creek.

Chapman and Kevin Augustus then ran through tall weeds and grass to reach the side of the creek where they could throw a rope to the boy, who also was able to hold on to the rope to be pulled to the side of the creek.

"We know the creek is dangerous. When it is high, it is scary," Joyce Augustus said.

She said people come to swim and fish in the creek all the time, but she does not allow her children to swim in the creek.

"Thank God we were here. It was by the grace of God that outcome was what it was. It could have been worse."

The nearby farm is located about 2 1/2 miles west of the Indiana state line. The Edgar County Ambulance, Edgar County Sheriff's Department and the Paris and Vermilion fire departments all responded to the scene. The incident was investigated by the coroner and the Edgar County Sheriff's Department.

In West Terre Haute, David Cooper, a neighbor near Layton in West Terre Haute, expressed remorse and described Layton as "an all-around good person. You could call him in the middle of the night and he would try to help you in any way he could."

Jenny West, pushing a stroller on Eighth Street in West Terre Haute on Tuesday, said she knew of Layton. "I could see him trying to save someone. He would give you the shirt off of his back, he was like that," West said.

Copyright 2015 - The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.