River Schomaker is a toddler who suddenly went missing in NE Portland, OR. While no one could conceive of how he ended up missing, the good news is that he was found still breathing and in good health.
Apparently, the two-year-old had gone missing without anyone knowing somewhere between late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
All River’s mom knew was that when she woke up that Saturday, her son was nowhere to be found.
Officer Daniel Tatro arrived at the search scene near 1700 N.E. 67th Avenue where he was given traffic monitoring duty.
The other officers and several Mountain Wave Search and Rescue volunteers, along with their search dogs, painstakingly went through the immediate area.
That’s when dog handler Becky Irving waved her arms frantically to catch Tatro’s attention.
“She told me that they’d located River’s body, is the words she used,” Tatro said.
Being a seasoned police officer, Tatro braced himself not knowing what he would find.
So imagine his surprise and delight when he found River alive and breathing.
Tatro narrates to kgw8 how he found the boy,
“I could see his left arm rising and falling with his breath and I think I even got on the radio and said he was breathing and crying, and that was great news, because that was the first time I had seen he was still alive. I could see the blackberry bushes were intertwined around his legs, there was a thick vine that was stuck around his right shoulder.”
The boy was lying in the bushes where a search and rescue volunteer pointed him out to Tatro.
He lifted River out and as soon as he did, little River clung on to him all cold and weak.
Tatro’s heart melted.
On the street, another officer puts a jacket on River hoping to warm him up. The boy wouldn’t let go of Tatro and that’s what made this cop break protocol.
“He’s really cute and so it’s hard to not love him. So, you think of your own kids. Spending time like that and what River must have gone through stuck in those blackberry bushes. So, you feel bad for him … you want him to feel loved.”
River was found six hours from the time he was reported missing, but police put him in protective custody after a visit to the hospital.
Many questions were asked regarding the events leading up to River’s disappearance.
A juvenile judge decided to keep River in protective custody while ordering the mother to undergo treatment.
Police are saying that the boy was out for around 11 hours.
River was hypothermic and disoriented, which could explain why he would go into thicker bushes. There’s no foul play involved though.
River was hypothermic and disoriented, which could explain why he would go into thicker bushes.
There’s no foul play involved though.
Officer Tatro was simply doing his job that day, but it was certainly one of the most rewarding days on the job for him. He feared the worst going into the situation but he wouldn’t give up hope.
In the end, his ability to do that earned him what we believe will be a lifelong friend. The fact that he expressed he would like to see more of little Rive in the future hints that the two became pals in their short time together.
See River’s touching rescue by Officer Tatro in the video below!
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