Jumps into canal to save family
A St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s deputy who jumped into a canal and swam a stranded family back to the highway has been named the 2009 Deputy of the Year.
On Nov. 5, 2009, the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported automobile crash on Airline Highway in St. Rose, where the vehicle had run off of the roadway and was immersed in a canal.
Deputy James Grimaldi was the first to respond to the accident and located a white automobile immersed nose down in the middle of the canal with only the back of the roof and trunk exposed above water. The occupants were sitting on the roof of the vehicle.
Grimaldi attempted to calm the subjects due to none of them knowing how to swim. He then advised dispatch that he was “making entry.”
Grimaldi jumped into the canal and swam to the car where he made contact with three subjects, a mother with her two children, ages 11 and 9. Grimaldi swam with the 11 year-old juvenile on his back to the shoulder of U.S. 61 to safety.
He then returned to the vehicle to rescue the 9-year-old juvenile, who he also carried on his back and swam to safety.
Grimaldi returned to the car a third time with the assistance of a St. Rose Volunteer Fireman and rescued the mother. It was later learned that the depth of the canal was between 8 to 10 feet.
Grimaldi, who serves as a deputy in the Patrol Division, has been with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office since 2006.
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