Sheriff: Sterling man rescues son from vehicle as it sinks in Rock River

MORRISON – A Sterling man jumped into the Rock River and saved his 3-year-old son from a quickly sinking vehicle that had rolled into the river on Friday night.

Deputies were dispatched around 7:30 p.m. Friday to the boat launch in the 22000 block of Moline Road in rural Sterling, according to a news release from the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office issued Sunday morning. Initial information provided to Whiteside County dispatchers was that a vehicle had gone into the river with a child inside.

Deputies arrived on scene to find a man identified as John Cavazos of Sterling and his 3-year-old son on the bank of the river. Cavazos told deputies he and his family had been fishing, and that his vehicle was parked near the boat launch. They started packing the vehicle to leave when, for unknown reasons, it came out of park and rolled into the river with the 3-year-old child inside, according to the release.

As the vehicle sank, other bystanders at the boat launch called 911. Cavazos jumped into the river to rescue his son as the vehicle quickly submerged. Cavazos got the child out of the vehicle and both made it safely to shore.

Cavazos and his son were treated on scene by emergency medical technicians. They refused transport to a hospital.

Emergency crews were at the scene for about 5 hours before the vehicle was located using sonar and removed from the river with the assistance of trained divers.

The Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office was assisted on scene by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police, Sterling Fire Department, CGH EMS, Yorktown Fire Department Search and Rescue Divers and Slim-n-Hanks Towing.