By Steve Hubrecht
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Editor’s note: Recently local RCMP Constable Andrew Henneberry put his own life at risk to swim out to a woman trapped in the swollen Columbia. In part two of a two-part feature, the Pioneer recounts the circumstances of his selfless rescue. Part one ran in last week’s paper.

The woman’s head went under the surface of the surging Columbia River. She popped her head up again moments later, panicked and screaming for help. She was trapped in the middle of the river, and it was all she could do to stay where she was, up to her shoulders in water, fighting to keep her head up. The current was too strong and the water too cold to do anything else. She’d been there maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and the frigid river was exhausting her strength. Columbia Valley Search and Rescue (CVSAR) and the Columbia Valley RCMP police boat were on the way, but Constable Andrew Henneberry, standing on the eastern shore, feared they would arrive too late to save the woman.

Once the woman began floundering, he didn’t hesitate. He dove straight into the icy torrent and began swimming to her.

Henneberry is no stranger to water. He grew up on the ocean in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where he’d been a competitive swimmer for nearly a decade. “I am a strong swimmer, the risk came in not knowing the river. Was there an undertow? What obstacles might be lurking under the water? There was no way to know those things,” Henneberry told the Pioneer. “But I was confident in my ability to assess the river as I swam, to recognize hazards and know what to do if they arose. So I pushed off into the current and started to swim to her.”

As he did, the woman’s head began to droop under the water again. There was no time to lose.

“It was pretty emotional,” said Henneberry. “She was starting to go under again.”

As he swam, trying to go against the current at one point, he realized just how wickedly freezing the river was. Even in the short time he was in the water, he recognized that his own legs were starting to fatigue and sink lower in the water. Keeping his wits about him, he contracted his core, allowing his legs to rise back up nearer the surface. Instead of fighting directly against the current, he plotted a course across the river, overshooting the woman, to the far side, where a back-flowing eddy allowed him to much more easily swim up to the woman.

“I was just focussed on the victim, and, of course, the difficult task at hand,” he said.

Towing her gently while she kicked, he guided her to the western bank of the river. “The problem was the bank there was a straight vertical, several feet up. It was like a wall,” said Henneberry. He felt around a bit, found a bit of a hold, and then using considerable strength and sheer willpower, hoisted the woman up to the top of the bank.

There the pair sat a bit, catching their breath.

“She was in shock. She was shivering, goosebumps all over. I tried to talk to her, asking her questions. All her answers were very short. I asked her if she had lost consciousness, but she said she couldn’t remember. I asked her how many times she thought her head had gone under the water, but again she said she wasn’t sure,” said Henneberry.

The woman had no visible injuries, so after a few moments of letting her regain her strength, Henneberry walked her away from the river, through thick brush, to a spot where she could warm up in the sunshine and where the helicopter on its way could land. A few minutes later, the helicopter arrived and airlifted both the woman and Henneberry off to be treated by awaiting emergency medical officers.

Henneberry said the woman did everything right once she realized she was in trouble, and that this played a large role in averting what could otherwise have been a tragic outcome.

“As police officers, we are taught about survival mentality and its importance in high-stress situations. She had it,” he said.

Columbia Valley RCMP Victim Services is supporting the woman and her family.

Henneberry urged everybody heading out on the river or elsewhere in the backcountry or frontcountry to be prepared for emergency circumstances.

In the days since the rescue, numerous valley residents have made a point of thanking Henneberry for his heroics.

“There has been a kind of overwhelming positive response, which I was not necessarily expecting,” he told the Pioneer. “It’s heartening to realize just how much the community appreciates the police.”