"I heard screaming," said Christopher Hilliker. That's when he leapt from where he was sitting with his fiance on the banks near the Shiawassee Dam to see four heads fighting to stay above water at he bottom.
Trained to swim in rough water, he pulled a man and two boys from the deadly current, then headed for Kyesha Pascal: "I start swimming across and she goes under. I swam around out there as much as possible, but I couldn't find her."
It took dozens of emergency responders to find her body around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, about three hours after the incident.
Now Christopher is dealing with mixed feelings about his rescue mission that could have gone better: "I feel good, but I feel horrible at the same time because I couldn't get the last girl; that's somebody's baby."
Brian Louch lives right next to the dam. He was upset to hear about Kyesha, but not surprised: "I've been out here 40 years and I believe there's been nine drownings."
He says the park always seems to go back to normal the day after these accidents happen, never seeing any changes made to the park to prevent more drownings: "Put something up from the top of the bend down to the bottom of that apron. Whether they put a fence or some type of signs to make sure people stay off the apron because it is dangerous."
He says the community has complained before, but the park doesn't have enough funding to add a fence around where Kyesha walked.
Although residents know its history, and stay away, people coming from out of town, like Kyesha and her family from Flint, are given no warning that it is more deadly than it looks.
