BYUI Student Dead after Violent Water Accident

BYUI Students Parker Bradford and Logan Gerratt almost drowned at Monkey Rock in Fremont County.

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Story Published: Jul 20, 2007 at 6:55 PM MST

Story Updated: May 27, 2008 at 11:14 PM MST

By Nate Eaton

BYU-Idaho student Parker Bradford died Saturday morning at Portneuf Medical Center.

The following is a story Newswatch 3 aired Friday.

A BYU-Idaho student is clinging to life right now after he and his friend slip in a canal, then are thrown down a dam and a 15 foot waterfall.

Logan Gerratt and Parker Bradford were with a group of friends at a popular swimming hole in Fremont County called Monkey Rock.

The teenagers have only been in a Idaho a few days. They were getting ready to start school.

Bradford is from France and Gerratt is from American Fork, Utah.

The teens were in a canal when the ordeal started. An undertow apparently pulled them under a bridge into a whirlpool.

For minutes, the boys were tossed, turned, and thrown back and forth through a small dam.

Davis: "The people who run the river call this a meat grinder."

Then they were spit out on the other side of the bridge. But the ordeal was far from over.

Davis: "Then they came on down the canal and over a waterfall."

A waterfall about 10-15 feet of jagged lava rock. That's when the boys friends saw them and immediately called for help.

Davis: "When we got here, both boys were on shore. They were doing CPR on one and assisting the other."

Most days in the summer, Monkey Rock is packed with people playing in the water. But swimmers need to know it can be deadly.

Davis: "You have the flow of the water, the speed of the water, plus its weight against your body."

While there are safe areas to play, there are other areas everyone should avoid.

As of 6:00pm Friday, Bradford is on life support at Portneuf Medical Center. Gerratt is in stable condition.

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