911 dispatcher sends mom, not police, to rescue boater

CATHLAMET, Wash. A 911 dispatcher in Washington state called on her own mother to rescue a stranded boater in the Columbia River, knowing her mother could kayak to the area faster than sending the sheriff's office patrol boat.

The sheriff's office says a 45-year-old kayaker was hanging onto a log piling Sunday after her kayak sank in swift current near a jetty.

The Daily News reports Wahkiakum County dispatcher Raedyn Grasseth notified the sheriff's office and then realized her mother, Cindy Faubion, and other members of Grasseth's family lived nearby and could get there quicker.

They paddled to the piling in a kayak and skiff and rescued the kayaker.

The kayaker was cold and shaken but didn't need medical attention.

"She's lucky she's alive, plain and simple," Grasseth told the Daily News.