He went to the creek to catch fish. Instead, he pulled a drowning dog out of the swamp.
Samuel comes to this creek every weekend to fish and clear his mind.
He was just baiting his hook when a pickup truck pulled onto the shoulder of the bridge above.
He watched as a man stepped out, lifted a concrete block, and hurled it over the rail.
Samuel thought it was just illegal dumping until he saw the poor dog being yanked over the edge with it.
The truck sped off, leaving the animal to sink.
Samuel didn’t wait.
He slid down the muddy embankment and waded chest-deep into the stagnant, freezing water.
He kicked around until he felt the concrete, grabbed the chain, and hauled the heavy weight back to the surface with everything he had.
He dragged the gasping dog onto the grass and frantically worked the heavy chain off its neck.
The pitbull was soaked, covered in swamp mud, and terrified.
But he didn’t growl or try to run.
He was just grateful. He crawled right into Samuel’s lap, pressing his wet body against the man’s chest, shaking violently from the cold.
That’s when the adrenaline faded and the heartbreak hit him.
Samuel, a man who usually keeps to himself, just sat in the mud and wept, holding the dog that someone else had tried to drown.
His nephew stopped filming to run and get towels from the car.
They filed a police report immediately, but the truck had no plates and the driver was never found.
But the dog, now named “Chance,” doesn’t need to worry about that anymore.
He went home with Samuel that day, and he sleeps safely at the foot of his bed every night.
