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American Morning

Interview with Jim Moss, C.W. Lehew, John Rice

Aired July 01, 2002 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: There is a saying in the Coast Guard: "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little time."

Well, two Florida utility workers are alive and well this morning, after a Coast Guard crew did the near impossible for them. The two workers fell from a dam into a raging creek -- you see the pictures here -- and they were in that water for some 90 minutes, suspended between life and death, tethered only to a safety cable that you can't even see there.

A Coast Guard helicopter arrived and pulled them from the water, and we are going to hear some more now about this incredible rescue.

Joining us are Jim Moss and C.W. Lehew, the two men who nearly died. They are on the outside of your picture there. And one of their rescuers is Coast Guard rescue swimmer John Rice. You see him there in the center. And they are all in Tampa this morning. Guys, I have to say first off, it's good to see you. I'm sure you've got to be feeling the same exact way, huh?

JIM MOSS, RESCUED UTILITY WORKER: Good morning.

JOHN RICE, U.S. COAST GUARD: Good morning.

C.W. LEHEW, RESCUED UTILITY WORKER: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Hey listen, first of all, Jim, and C.W., what exactly were you doing on that dam?

LEHEW: Well, we were doing general maintenance of the dam that we do twice a year, and it was routine. And we slipped off.

HARRIS: All right. If it's routine, how do you slip though? I mean, this is the kind of thing you do on a regular basis, right?

LEHEW: Well, it's routine as far as it's twice a year. When the dry season comes, we put an extension on the dam. And when the wet season comes, which we are experiencing now, we take the plywood back out, so that it reduces the level of the water in the reservoir.

HARRIS: All right. In the process of taking that plywood out, that's when the two of you slipped. Who slipped first? Because as I heard the story, one of you slipped, and the other one fell after trying to reach for him, is that correct? MOSS: Yes. I slipped first. I don't know if it was on the piece of plywood or just the rushing water took my feet out. And I felt C.W. grab a hold of my full-body harness, and I held onto the cable going across the dam as long as I could until I had no more strength and fell off.

HARRIS: I've got to ask you this: How many times have you seen this videotape, and when you have seen it, what in the world are you thinking?

MOSS: Thank God.

LEHEW: Thank God for the Coast Guard...

MOSS: The Coast Guard and John.

LEHEW: ... and John. John is the one who came out of that helicopter, and that's an angel from the sky for me.

HARRIS: Yes. Well...

LEHEW: And I'm sure Jim felt the same way.

HARRIS: All right. Well...

(CROSSTALK)

LEHEW: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HARRIS: I'm sorry. John, first of all, you know, what surprised me was to find out that the Coast Guard would actually be called in on a case like this. Do you handle cases like this on a regular basis, or what?

RICE: Not normally. This was -- it pretty much was a special case. Normally, we deal with a lot of offshore cases. This one was special due to the swift water rescue, and definitely not offshore.

HARRIS: Well, how do you coordinate something like this, John? I mean, the water level has got -- the noise down there has got to be so loud that there is no way these men can hear you. So they can't -- you can't talk to them, could you? Could you talk to them to at least explain to them what you were trying to do? How did you work that out and coordinate that?

RICE: Well, basically through my crew, Lieutenant Erik Smith (ph) and Graham Stewart (ph) and my flight mechanic, Zach McFarland (ph), we pretty much had 20 minutes to brief before we got on scene. And then from there, I went out the door, and directed the ploy (ph) down to C.W. here, didn't have a preference for who I was going to take at first. But C.W., I noticed, had a line attached around his neck, and it was cutting off his airway, so I had to act a little more quicker due to the lanyard around his neck.

HARRIS: Well, speaking of which, John -- Jim, rather, how were you breathing down there? From what I can tell, it looked like you were totally submerged.

MOSS: Well, after they took C.W.'s weight off of the cable, it pulled the column of water from my right shoulder to the back of my head. And between me pushing back on the water -- the column of water and the water pushing me, I went under the dam. And to the right of me was the wall of the dam with the column of water going over the top of me, which was a big air pocket under there. Otherwise, I couldn't really breathe, because of the column of water. It was horrendous.

HARRIS: Did you think you were going then?

MOSS: I thought that several times. Several times I thought that.

HARRIS: Yes. How about you, C.W.?

LEHEW: I never thought I would see my wife again.

HARRIS: Is that what you were thinking?

LEHEW: When I was in the water, because our local fire and rescue, they had no means of getting us out of there, and that's why the Coast Guard was called in.

HARRIS: Boy! I tell you, this is incredible pictures, incredible story, and boy, we are sure glad you were able to come in and join us this morning and share it with us all. Jim Moss, C.W. Lehew and John Rice in Tampa Florida, thank you very much for talking with us.

RICE: Thank you.

HARRIS: John, great job.

MOSS: Thank you.

HARRIS: And you know something? These two guys should be getting a very nice Christmas gift this year.

RICE: Thank you.

HARRIS: All right. Take care -- good luck, gentlemen.

RICE: OK.

MOSS: Thank you.

LEHEW: Thank you.

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