Boys rescue young girl from drowning in creek
ROMAN FOREST, TX (KTRK) -- A four-year-old girl fell into Peach Creek right behind her family's Roman Forest home Thursday evening. She could've drowned, if not for two quick-thinking 12-year-olds.
One is the son of a Houston police officer.
"They saw the girl playing on the other side of the creek. She tried to swing on a limb," Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle said. "She fell in the water and she looked like she was drowning. So one of the boys pulled her out of the water and the other one assisted."
They ran for help and found Ricky Duke.
"I just pulled over here to text my wife and check in on her. I left some friends' house that live out here. A young man on a bicycle pulled up and asked me to call 911 and said they'd just pulled a little girl out of the creek," Duke said.
Duke said he called those friends. They called the police and then rushed to the scene.
"We wrapped her up in some jackets that we had and I just kind of held on to her and hugged her and told her everything's going to be fine, that we were going to take care of her until we could find her parents," says Lucia McCreight.
"She's got autism and we just found out about it. She just likes to wander off and do her own thing sometimes," explains the girl's mother Melissa Maddox.
Soon after Roman Forest police blasted her picture on social media, word got back to her parents. Melissa Maddox is her mother and said her name is Melodie. She recently turned four.
Maddox says she loves going into the back yard to play with the pig she got for her birthday, but she's kept her in lately because of the cool temperatures.
"She's just been asking for days to go outside and I guess she just slipped outside without saying anything after I left for work."
Maddox tells us her husband was watching Melodie when she slipped out. She told Eyewitness News she tries to get out from time to time, and they always catch her before she gets too far. This time was different.
"We're always trying to stay on top of her. He's a really good dad. He's always making sure she's ok," she said.
Melodie was taken to The Pediatric Emergency Center at Kingwood Medical Center and reunited with her mom and stepfather there.
Roman Forest Police tell us they're not filing charges at this point, but that could change depending on Melodie's injuries.
