Flyers scout John Chapman was just out walking his dog when he became a hero and saved a baby and her mother from drowning.
The mother, who was out with her young son and two-month-old daughter, had stopped to pet Chapman's dog and accidentally let go of the stroller her daughter was in -- then watched in horror as it rolled down a steep incline towards a pond in Calgary, The Globe and Mail reported.
"The wind was really blowing and it was like someone pushed it," Chapman told The Globe and Mail. "The stroller takes off down the hill and I'm chasing after it. The stroller hits the rocks [used as a retaining wall], does a 360 in the air and goes into the water with the baby looking at us."
Chapman was scrambling his way down the rocks when the mother jumped over him into the water. In an instant, she was struggling to stay afloat and Chapman said he grabbed her while holding onto the stroller.
As the woman clambered over her rescuer, Chapman did everything he could to keep the baby's head above the water.
“It was at the steepest and deepest point … the baby was breathing, but she was a bad colour,” he recalled. “I'm thinking she was underwater a good minute, although it felt like 10 minutes.”
While all that was going on, the little boy left behind was running about screaming. He wasn't alone, though. Chapman's dog stayed by his side the entire time.
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Chapman used the dog's blankets located in his truck to wrap around the mother and daughter until the paramedics came and took them to a nearby hospital.
Both were released hours later.
Chapman, who was in Calgary to watch the Blackhawks-Flames series and had stopped to visit his daughter in the southeast neighbourhood of MacKenzie Towne, dried off at his daughter's house and went to the game.
As the 700 Level notes, John Chapman, you are a hero.
