Maj. Karl Miller doesn’t consider himself a hero. He says diving into the rough surf Saturday evening to save two teenagers was something he was trained to do, something anyone with his training would have done.
What Miller, a reservist at Duke Field, won’t say is that he made a difference in the lives of 15-year-old J’Melia Richardson and 16-year-old Malo Paul when he dove into Gulf behind the Sheraton Four Points hotel on Okaloosa Island.
“All I did was get them out of the water,” Miller said. “The EMTs and firefighters were the ones that performed CPR and got them breathing. I just got them out.”
Miller was sitting by the pool at the hotel helping chaperone a Sweet 16 party when one of the guests came screaming for a lifeguard. That’s when he saw the teenagers floating in the water.
“My girlfriend asked if I was going to help and I handed her my keys and started running,” the 47-year-old said, his voice cracking as he remembered the moment. “The kids were unconscious.”
Miller said the teens were walking along a sandbar when a powerful wave knocked J’Melia off and into water that Miller estimated was 8 to 10 feet deep. Malo jumped into the deeper water to save the Niceville girl.
“That was pretty brave for a 16-year-old boy,” Miller said.
He began swimming toward Malo, who was floating near the shoreline when bystanders shouted for him to retrieve J’Melia, who was underwater. He swam out and saw the girl’s bright orange shorts about 8 feet under the surface.
“I swam her back to shore and then went after Malo,” he said. “By the time I swam him back to shore the lifeguard was there and they started working on both of them.”
The teens were taken to Sacred Heart Hospital’s Children’s Critical Care Unit. J’Melia was listed in good condition and Malo was in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.
J’Melia’s father, Derrick Richardson, also is a reservist at Duke Field. Miller said the family has asked him to meet them. He said Tuesday he would pay them a visit soon.
“I’ve been in the Air Force for 29 years, so I’ve had training in stressful situations. That played a key role in how I responded,” Miller said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.
