Mitch McCune, a friend of Indiana wide receiver Isaac Griffith, saved the football player from drowning at a Florida beach.
“Me and Isaac got pulled farther out than everyone else, so we were having trouble,” Mitch McCune said in a telephone interview. “He was drowning and I grabbed him and got him to shore. It was tough.”
McCune said once he was able to stand up, another friend, safety Ty Smith, helped him pull Griffith to shore. McCune performed CPR on Griffith until the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department officers and emergency units arrived at the scene.
Griffith remained in critical but stable condition early Tuesday night.
“We deeply appreciate the prayers and outpouring of support coming to us through tweets, calls and messages, both from Florida and Indiana,” said Isaac’s parents, Shannon and Kim Griffith, in the statement. “We are seeing positive signs throughout the day and winning small battles that give us hope.
“He’s getting better, but he has a lot of little battles and he’s doing it hour by hour,” Indiana student, who is studying to be an athletic trainer, said.
The sheriff department said Griffith and his friends were drinking in the hotel room and then decided to go swimming. McCune denied the drinking claim.
“I don’t know how that started,” he said.
[ESPN]