Colorado deputy who rescued infant during La Plata County flooding credits community effort

A photograph of a sheriff's deputy carrying an infant through floodwaters has become one of the defining images of the historic flooding that devastated parts of La Plata County. But the deputy at the center of that image says the photo captures only a fraction of what was happening as residents raced to escape rising water.

The image — taken by Jerry McBride with the Durango Herald — shows Deputy Brayton Thurber carrying a baby girl from a trailer in the Junction Creek Mobile Home Park, as floodwaters began surging through the area. The photograph has been widely shared online, drawing praise and sparking conversations about the rescue. But Thurber says the moment frozen in the frame doesn't tell the full story. 

"I think that we can agree that the photograph is fantastic," Thurber said. "That said, we also know that photographs don't tell the entire story of what's going on." 

For Thurber, the rescue began long before the photograph was taken.

Thurber told CBS Colorado that he had visited the mobile home community about a week before the catastrophic flooding and was already concerned about one particular trailer. A young mother and her infant daughter lived there.

"It had been in the back of my mind as a high priority because of its location and because of its precious cargo, so to speak," he said. 

As heavy rain continued to fall, Thurber said there was a growing sense that conditions were deteriorating rapidly.

"The water had risen, and, as quickly as it had risen, gave people very little notice from an, 'OK, this looks survivable; it's probably going to wash through.' To, 'Oh, dear, we need to get out of here immediately,'" Thurber explained. 

The deputy was the first responder called to the scene and quickly realized additional resources would be needed. 

"As we're trained to do, we assess and we communicate back," he said. "And so it was a function of my communication back that this was probably going to need more resources." 

Thurber said the infant's mother was present throughout the rescue, along with the mother's brother, who had also responded to help. While Thurber carried the child to safety, the adults focused on removing critical supplies from the trailer, including oxygen equipment the infant relied on. 

"We all worked together — deputies, the mother, her brother, everybody — to just act quickly, get supplies, get critical things moving out that door," Thurber said. 

The rescue unfolded in a matter of moments.

"You know this is all done in one take," Thurber said. "So you take the child and you say, 'All right, I am going to be confident in my sure footedness, and we're just going to go, and then she's going to go, and others are going to help,' and that's what we did. We just worked together very quickly in an impromptu sort of fashion as a team to make sure that everybody was going to be safe."

"Kudos to everybody who was doing what they were doing there, mama included," he added.

Although many have hailed Thurber as a hero since the photograph was published, he doesn't see it that way. When asked what he sees when he looks at the image, Thurber said he sees a reflection of an entire community responding to a crisis.

"I think that that photo is a perfect, perfect distillation of everything that everybody's been doing in this community for the past few days and weeks," he said. 

Thurber said the public often sees the rescues captured by cameras, but many acts of service happen out of view. He pointed to first responders working overnight in dangerous conditions, as well as volunteers delivering supplies, helping neighbors and identifying residents with special needs. 

"There's no way we would be able to have been as effective, even as we have been thus far without all of these people out there pushing shovels and bringing clean water and identifying who might need special help," he said. "It's been an amazing effort." 

Despite the destruction left behind by the flooding, including damage to homes and infrastructure, Thurber said he remains optimistic about the community's recovery.

"It's been a blessing to be able to see just how tight-knit the community is, how caring they are for one another, how resilient they are," Thurber said. "I would say La Plata County is still undefeated." 

Thurber said he has not been able to reconnect with the mother and child since the Nov. 2 rescue, but knows they were safely taken to an evacuation center in the region.