Newsman Ted Koppel became a player in the story he was covering when he jumped into filthy waist-deep water to help rescue a woman stranded in flooded New Orleans.
Two officers with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who joined with natural resources officers from other states to help in the rescue efforts, found three people trapped in their home in the stricken city’s 8th Ward on Tuesday.
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Clarence Branch Jr., 73, his wife Rosa Lee, 72, and their 50-year-old daughter Viola Hill had refused to leave their home when Katrina struck.
Since Rosa is confined to a wheelchair, officers Mike Colvin and Robert Olds called for help and several boats arrived. Koppel, who was reporting in the area, arrived in one of the boats along with a cameraman, sound technician and producers, the Lexington (Ken.) Herald-Leader reports.
Rescuers loaded Rosa and her wheelchair into a 21-foot boat, and Koppel got on board to interview her.
But when the boat reached the entrance to the Fairground Race Course, which is being used as a rescue staging area, the water was too shallow for its propeller to operate.
So several officers and Koppel – who had no wading boots – jumped into the heavily polluted, nearly waist-deep water to pull the boat the last 50 yards to dry land.
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