Harris County Pct. 6 held an official swearing in of 12 new officers. It's a tradition to have someone close to you pin your new badge on. One new reserve deputy chose a man he met less than a week ago, but there's a good reason why.
"He was sent to me for a reason. I was sent to him for a reason. He is inspirational," Off-duty reserve deputy Wes Manion said.
The fateful meeting happened around 2pm Saturday at Crystal Beach. Jason Roy of Lufkin was at a bachelor party and surf fishing. The last thing he remembers is chest bumping a couple of waves.
Manion was with his friends tailgating. He looked 20 feet over and couldn't believe his eyes.
"It looked like a guy sleeping on the beach, but he was face down and the water was just rocking him," Manion said.
Though he rushed over, he felt it was too late.
"I ran over instantly, rolled the gentleman over and noticed it was a dead body, and I've seen enough to know that he was dead," Manion said.
Instincts and adrenaline propelled Manion to perform CPR anyway. Four to five minutes later, Roy came to life.
"He was bloated and all of the sudden he took a deep breathe in, spit out some water and we had a pulse," Manion said.
All 28-year-old Roy remembers is waking up in the hospital.
"Doctors are telling me that I am a miracle, that I should be on tubes and on a ventilator for the rest of my life. The best they looked for was brain dead," Roy said.
"It was life changing," Manion said. "You thought it was hopeless. You went from hopeless to lets just do it anyway, because you can't live with yourself if you don't."
They both say they share a special bond and call or text almost everyday. But the new friends of fate just need to square away one thing.
"It will definitely be a friendship for life," Roy said.
"Maybe go fishing with him?" we asked.
"Oh guaranteed. Fishing for sure," Roy said.
"I'm not sure if I'm going to go fishing with him. I will gladly take him hunting. I'm not really sure if I'm going to get in the water with him," Manion said.
Manion also received a certificate for heroic act Monday evening.
And by the way, Manion helps his father run a custom home-building business in Katy and just donates his time as a reserve deputy a couple of days a week.
