ROSWELL, Ga.
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What started off as a fun evening of swimming for a group of college students quickly turned when they had to be pulled from Vickery Creek in Roswell before they went over a waterfall.
"I was holding on there and for a second my head was going under, and I was trying to fight it. I was panicking," said Bobby Stillings. Stillings and his two friends were in great danger. One false move and the Kennesaw State students could have fallen over the dam.
"We did a little pendulum effect swung over and pulled quickly across the water," said Stillings.
"I didn't realize how much the current was. Next thing you know we are holding on for our life," said rescued student Jennifer Chambers.
Problems started when they were swimming across the creek. Initially everyone made it across except Nicholes Swoopes.
"I second guess from the time I saw the water hole. I was like, 'Bobby, no' and they were like, 'Come on man' and I was like, 'Alright,' " said Swoopes.
When he couldn't make it across, his friends rushed in to save him, but the current was too strong for them too.
"We tried to pull them out with a tree branch and it didn't work," said witness Sarah Schad.
For 20 minutes they hung on to each other. A jogger heard their screams and called 911. While they all thanked rescuers they never got to thank the passerby who called for help.
"I thank God for them. If it wasn't for them it would have been curtains for all of us," said Stillings.
Last summer rescue crews had to perform two swift water rescues after people got stuck in the same area of Vickery Creek.
After the second rescue, officials put up signs telling people to keep off the dam.
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