LEONARD GRAY

CUT OFF – A 22-year-old Des Allemands man recently helped rescue two infants from a submerged vehicle, and he was cited for his heroism by the Louisiana State Police. “It was a shaky situation,” said Tucker Scioneaux. Scioneaux was one of three employees at Ken’s Body Shop in Cut Off around 3:30 p.m. on July 12. A car veered off Louisiana Highway 308, struck a tree and overturned into Bayou Lafourche. The men, including Cut Off residents Lonnie Chouest and Kim Plaisance, ran toward the accident to help. “There was a woman in a blue Nissan truck pointing down in the water,” Scioneaux recalled. “She pointed down two times.” The three men reached the bank of the heavily traveled bayou and saw the bottom of the car coming up. At that moment, three young women popped up in the water from the submerged 1998 Kia Sephia. They realized what had happened and yelled for help. Their two babies were trapped inside the car. “My baby!” screamed one of the women, soon joined by the second mother. The women were driver Stacy Rogers, 20, of Lockport; Opel Lovett, 19, of Cut Off; and a 15-year-old rear seat passenger. “I figured they’re not getting out on their own,” Scioneaux commented. Scioneaux immediately dove into the chest-deep water for the babies but could not locate them. The windows were all rolled up against the heat, and he punched the car several times out of frustration, trying to get a door open against the water. One concern was the car was resting on a shelf in the water, but was sliding toward the deeper channel. Plus, Scioneaux recalled, a tugboat was approaching and he feared the passing boat’s wake would send the car plummeting to the bottom. Bayou Lafourche is a busy waterway, with many tugboats, shrimp boats and supply vessels for offshore oil rigs plying its waters. Finally, Scioneaux was able to force a door open with his foot, at which time Plaisance dived three times before locating an 8-month-old boy, the child coughing and spitting up the thick brown water. Plaisance brought the infant up, passed him to Scioneaux, who brought him to shore and to Marie Barker, a passerby who was an emergency medical technician, who cared for the infant until paramedics arrived. Chouest then tried for the second infant but could not free the child from the safety restraints. He came up and was handed a knife by Larry Dahms of Cut Off, and Chouest was joined in the water by Trent Brady and Josh Punch, both of Larose. Chouest and Brady freed another 3-month-old boy and car seat from the vehicle and passed the child to Scioneaux. Scioneaux then brought the baby, who was not breathing, to Marie and Audrey Barker. The women immediately began CPR on the child. “He was blue,” Scioneaux recalled. At this time, registered nurse Chris Guidry and off-duty State Police Trooper Tony Eymard stopped to help. Eymard and Chouest continued with the CPR while Guidry cleared the baby’s lungs and was successful in restoring his breathing. Scioneaux remembered resting on the shore when an EMT checked on him. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Go help them.” Both children were taken to Our Lady of the Sea Hospital and later transferred to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. The latest word from Louisiana State Police Troop C is both children fully recovered, despite bouts of pneumonia, and have since come home. The women received minor injuries in the crash. “It felt like hours we were in that water, but it was only minutes,” Scioneaux remembered. The father of a 3-year-old daughter himself, Scioneaux added, “I feel if I was in that situation, I hope somebody would do that for me.” On Monday, the young mothers, Stacy Rogers and Opal Lovett, visited Ken’s Body Shop to thank the men who helped save the pair of babies. “We hugged. Man, there were tears in my eyes,” Scioneaux said. And what of the woman in the blue Nissan pick-up truck pointing to the submerged car? No one saw her again, Scioneaux said. “God was with em, I tell you that,” Scioneaux said. When asked about the acts of heroism, Troop C Commander, Capt. Ralph D. Mitchell, said, “Without everyone who was involved, either directly or indirectly, the lives of these two infants would have certainly be lost.” Mitchell added, “I shudder to think what may have happened if it were not for these people coming together and risking their own lives without thinking twice about it for the safety of these two children.” He concluded, “These are ordinary people in extraordinary situations doing extraordinary things. I am humbled and proud.”