SAN ANTONIO — Two San Antonio Academy employees were recognized in a ceremony Friday for saving a man from drowning while they were vacationing in Corpus Christi.
Recently, the two academy employees, Cody Sluder and Quinton Walker, were at the beach with their families and they noticed a man, Marco Garza, go underwater and not resurface. The two employees, along with Sluder's father-in-law, ran to help Garza, pulling him from the water and onto shore.
Sluder and Walker cleared the man's lungs of water and began emergency life-saving procedures. EMS arrived on scene to take Garza to the hospital while the Sluder and Walker family looked after the man's two small boys until the police arrived.
Marco Garza survived the near-drowning and was on hand at the ceremony at the San Antonio Academy to honor the heroic efforts of Sluder and Walker.
Walker spoke to KENS 5 after the ceremony and described what got this attention when the man first went under.
"What keyed me into it, his older son, the way he was looking down into the water, it didn't seem like he was playing anymore. It didn't seem to be a normal situation," Walker said.
Garza also spoke after the ceremony and said he was grateful for Walker and Sluder's efforts.
"There's things that I will never know about why it happened or if it could happen again, But what I do know for sure is that these guys went out of their way to help me and I will be forever grateful," Garza said. "It definitely brings you together and creates a bond that you can't really explain."
The school held an assembly and ceremony Friday so students and members of the San Antonio Academy could join in celebrating their efforts.