Geary County officials have honored two Deputies, James Garcia and Cayla Da Giau,  for their life saving efforts at Milford Lake in the early morning hours of June 8th.

The Sheriff’s Department said the Deputies were dispatched to Auld Road and Brinkley Road for a man and woman who had driven their car into the water. The man and woman were standing on top of their vehicle as it was sinking into flood waters.

Garcia stated the two subjects were hanging onto some trees when the officers arrived on the scene. “We advised them to stand by, we had a boat enroute to pick them up. But they ignored our request and started swimming towards us. While swimming towards us they started sinking. The male had trouble swimming

so he was hanging onto the female and dragging her under. So we entered the water. I grabbed ahold of the female and swam ashore with her.”

Da Giau stated that once authorities found the individuals and made contact they began to swim toward the Deputies, “at which time the female individual was getting pulled under water a little bit just by the male individual, possibly by panic, we weren’t too sure of the situation. Upon that Deputy Garcia and I dropped our gear and went into the water to remove the individuals out of the water.”

The Sheriff’s Department noted that the Deputies courage and professionalism reflected great credit upon themselves and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the law enforcement profession.