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Hero Dad Dies Saving Five From Riptide
26 Mar
Summary
- Chase Childers was posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
- He drowned last July while saving five people from a rip current.
- Childers was a former Cobb County police officer and baseball player.
A Paulding County father and former Cobb County police officer, Chase Childers, is being posthumously honored for his ultimate act of bravery. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded Childers, 38, the Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
Last July, Childers drowned in Pawley's Island, South Carolina, after entering the ocean to save five people caught in a dangerous rip current. He successfully rescued all five individuals before succumbing to the current himself. Authorities believe he may have ventured further into the water, possibly thinking someone else was in distress.
Childers was also recognized for his previous service as a Cobb County police officer, where he earned a lifetime achievement award for saving lives. His family also noted his time playing professional baseball in the Baltimore Orioles system.
