Police and fire officials said Tuesday that they had not been able to find the body of a young man, believed to be in his teens, who was last seen Monday night in Goldsmith Gulch creek near East Yale Avenue.
He could be anywhere downstream, Denver fire officials said, so the search was called off. Goldsmith Gulch empties into Cherry Creek, which then feeds the South Platte River.
Fire Department spokeswoman Heather Green said officials did not know the name of the person police saw in the creek and no one had been reported missing. He could have escaped the water on his own, she added.
Jason Whaling and Nick Inhelder were driving by Bible Park on Monday night when they saw the commotion.
Rescue teams worked feverishly to get a rope around Denver police Officer Jairon Katz, who was in the creek up against the concrete tunnel clutching a guardrail.
“He was hanging on for dear life,” said Whaling.
Katz had been trying to rescue the teen reported to be in the creek when the officer got swept away in the water that was about 6 feet over its banks.
“People were yelling at him to hold on, hold on,” Whaling said.
Meanwhile, about 20 people with flashlights were scouring the creek for the young man Katz was trying to rescue.
After about 20 minutes, rescue teams were able to place a rope around Katz, then pull him to safety. About five or six people carried him up an embankment, Whaling said, where an ambulance was waiting to take Katz to the hospital for hypothermia.
“It was amazing to see them fighting to save one of their own,” Inhelder said.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
