A couple has reunited after a volunteer pilot, who rescued the wife, was threated with arrest if he went back to rescue the husband.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Tonight for the first time since we showed you the rescue attempt of a lake lure couple stranded on a cliff
00:05We now know what happened to the husband
00:07He was left behind after the volunteer chopper pilot who saved his wife was forced to end that rescue effort
00:13Under the threat of arrest by a lake lure fire official. Here's Queen City News chief investigator Jody Barr. I
00:21Was able to look him up a few minutes after I left
00:25Was this his title online as the assistant chief of Lake Lure fire and rescue
00:31This is the man volunteer helicopter pilot Jordan situm said threatened to arrest him if he made one more trip up a lake lure
00:38Mountain to rescue another person just minutes before a couple waves sit him down as he passed overhead
00:45Mike and Susan coffee were stranded on a cliff after the storm washed away their home in the land
00:51It sat on we could see the water starting to get much more
00:56Violent, right and we could see trees start to go down and the water levels start to rise
01:03But we kind of thought we were safe because we were so high up and then we started to hear a lot of noises
01:10Rumblings rumbling wasn't thunder. What's this weird rumbling? Yeah, which were trees falling rocks, you know
01:16So it got a little bit frightening at that point
01:19We actually sat there and then we watched our house go the cliff just dropped
01:27That whole side of the road
01:30the cliff just dropped off right all of the
01:33Trees and dirt and everything else just started collapsing for the next two and a half days
01:39The couple slept in their car surviving on two bottles of water and two bags of chips Friday night
01:45I mean we had no water. We had a potato chips. We're also dehydrating like that was a great pick, you know
01:51But so by the next morning we were starting to get worried again of what we would have to be able to drink
01:58We started to see helicopters go over. So every time I heard a copter we just run out and start waving
02:03There was a big pile of rocks at the house next door. So we did a big SOS sign in the cul-de-sac with the rocks and
02:10Just staying at the moment to stay positive and not worry too much
02:15And then we saw this small black helicopter flyer and we were waving at it and it stopped
02:21It actually stopped. Well, yeah, it circled over us when you saw that helicopter make a u-turn and start coming toward you
02:28Well, what was going through your mind at that moment? Thank God
02:31Thank God somebody saw us
02:33Somebody was trying to help
02:35Somewhere so that was the first time
02:37Somebody actually stopped and acknowledged that we were there and so Mike says of course for me to go first
02:44He'll stay there with the cat and then Jordan's all come back and get you
02:48Sidhu left his son with my coffee and flew Susan to what Sidhu described as a
02:53Command post three minutes away near Lake Lure
02:56So we land and I get out of the helicopter and I go towards them
03:00And so then Jordan was able to come out and they're just standing there looking very mad and very annoyed
03:06So, who are you, you know, and I didn't realize he had just taken upon himself
03:11followed his heart to come help rescue people and
03:15And this communication is so down
03:17It's hard to know who to let know that he has this free airspace that he can go do this
03:21So he was telling them who he was and what he was doing and they just were just not happy
03:27they weren't happy about it and
03:30They he said this is our
03:33This is our mission this is our operation we can't just have you flying in and out
03:38And so he was trying to tell them Jordan was telling them. Well, I
03:43Can't just leave her husband there. I don't want to separate a family
03:46So if you just let me go back and get her husband and then I'll bring him here
03:50Then I'll take my son and we'll we'll go one of the Michigan firemen Sidhu says he spoke to and who gave him radio
03:56Frequencies to help coordinate with them told him to do whatever he had to
04:01Susan coffee witnessed that conversation pretty much told him in a way break the rule
04:06Just go and get her go get the husband so that they can be reunited
04:11So that's why I thought that it was okay that he was gonna be able to go get him
04:15I didn't know that then he was threatened with arrest. He was told just to leave and
04:20so I thought he was gonna go get my husband and
04:25He informed me when he got there and when I got to the door
04:28He said I am so sorry
04:33But I'm told if I bring you back
04:37that
04:38I'm gonna be arrested and
04:40I can't take you back with me. And in fact, I was told I couldn't come get my co-pilot my son
04:47I just told him I'm not gonna leave my son here
04:51He said I am so sorry. I don't know what to tell you
04:55He said I am so sorry, I don't know what to tell you but I need to take my son and we're gonna leave and
05:02They've told me they're aware of where you are and you will be rescued. He takes off
05:08I had no idea where my wife was I couldn't comprehend what was going on
05:14Like how did this make sense? And when if ever I was gonna be
05:21Reunited with her
05:23How long it would take for some other rescue crew to get back to me. So that was
05:30the most stressful
05:31Part of the whole experience I can watch my house go I can watch our neighbors houses go
05:38We were together right and and we know each other was safe
05:44And when he left that thought
05:47Right just kind of
05:49Disappeared like okay. I don't know what's gonna happen from here
05:53Coffee hiked down the cliff and found what he believes is that same?
05:57Michigan rescue crew from the command post probably 20-25 minutes later
06:02I saw a rescue crew across the river and
06:07I was waving them down and I was able to get down the banks to our side of the river
06:14Where I could at least yell and communicate across the river saying you have my wife
06:20Do you know where my wife is?
06:24And they were giving me the thumbs up
06:26They use ropes to drag him across the raging debris filled river to safety and the very first thing he said to me was
06:33Are you okay? Are you my coffee? We've got your wife. So she's safe. So at that point I
06:41Could relax, you know
06:44Knowing that she was safe, you know those guys also they came down from Michigan. They don't know us from anybody
06:52they were willing to put their lives on the line, you know, they're
06:56They're also heroes in the story. What was there a point in time when either of you thought?
07:02maybe
07:03You may not see one another again, of course
07:07Yeah, no who took me and
07:10I mean honestly, you know this guy shows up in a helicopter
07:13He takes your wife and then he comes back and says oh, I can't pick you up, right? I had no idea
07:21When things go through your mind, right?
07:23I was gonna see her again where she was taken after a few hours the coffees found one another again
07:29So the bus came back to get me and then I see the doors open and Mike's head
07:36Like oh my god, I was so relieved that
07:42And that we were back together in the days after the storm the communication lines were down at Town Hall
07:48No phone internet or cell signal either
07:50We sent messages to assistant chief Chris Melton the man Jordan sit-in said ran him and any other pilot who showed up out
07:58Of town under threat of arrest
08:00But Melton never responded Thursday morning instead of making assistant chief Melton available
08:06The town offered its town manager for an interview. So the personal aircraft that landed was
08:13Not only unauthorized but also they provided no notification
08:17that they were coming and that did pose a potential risk to ongoing operations with search-and-rescue and then
08:24You know also just wasn't safe for them to be there as regular citizens
08:28Especially since we didn't know, you know who they were
08:31What what they were doing there in the days after the storm through that Sunday morning?
08:36There was no restricted airspace in Lake Lord
08:39The FAA did impose a temporary flight restriction after this encounter between mr. Sidhu and the assistant fire chief Melton
08:49So you all still contend today that no one should have been in that area
08:53Trying to save these people who had been stranded for the two days headed headed into
08:58day two possible next to day three
09:00Correct
09:01If anything they should have at least notified incident command who would have authorized them or not authorized them to be in that area
09:08Sudham said he did exactly that when he landed at the Rutherford County Airport and spoke with the people in charge
09:14Sudham says airport officials told him they were only selling fuel to private aircraft if
09:19Those pilots were helping in the search-and-rescue effort
09:22Sudham has the receipts showing a fuel purchase going into Lake Lure that Sunday morning and one after the arrest threat
09:29just two hours later and
09:34Unaware of that
09:35Yep, I'm assuming less than 24 hours later private pilots were being asked to return to that area to do what mr
09:43Sudham was doing at that time
09:45Do you see how that the public may look at that and go? Well, that's
09:49That's a little perplexing that you know just before he was in severely endangering rescue efforts and then you know less than a day later
09:57They're being begged to come back and help
09:59Well, I can only imagine that they went through the correct chain of command to be authorized to come here. What was the danger posed?
10:06In what mr. Sudham did the specific danger that day?
10:09Well, it interrupted operations of the people who were there from national state and local resources one and two
10:16You know downtown Chimney Rock is in disarray right now
10:21For for someone who's not trained not adequately adequately trained in emergency operations
10:28You know
10:30Especially at that time they should not have been in that location
10:33But just some hours later
10:34He was back in the area and the county welcomed him and to do exactly what he did just the day before
10:41Do you think his training was significantly improved overnight?
10:44I think that it's not that we're turning away help or volunteerism at all
10:49Once again, we just need to go through the right steps to do that
10:52so so we're aware the state is aware Rutherford County's aware and the town of Lake Laura and
10:58Village of Chimney Rock is aware of what's going on. That was not the case initially
11:02Are you all welcoming those private?
11:04Helicopter pilots who have delivered food and water and medical supplies and are helping rescue human lives
11:09From the mountains around Lake Laura you guys welcome welcoming them now that would need to go through the Rutherford County emergency management or the state
11:16Emergency management. I'm asking you as an official the leader of Lake Laura, North Carolina. Are you now welcoming those private helicopters?
11:24in your community
11:26Yes, if they go through the necessary channels, do you think that your people on the ground in Lake Laura?
11:33Did what they should have done when they handled this flooding victim that was delivered to them in the encounter between
11:40Assistant Chief Melton in this private pilot. Yes, sir. Sorry. They were doing what they
11:45Were supposed to do at that time and you know, I can't speak highly enough of mr
11:51Melton and all of our emergency personnel that's here right now
11:53they've been out here for days on end putting their lives on the line to save people and
11:58You know, they were doing their job. What would you say to him today?
12:01I would ask that
12:03why he didn't take the time to assess the whole situation and make a better decision as an emergency manager director and
12:10Assistant chief of the fire department. That's the time that you should try to be coordinating with outside agencies to get more help in that's
12:18Your job title and there wasn't much coordination going on
12:21Sudden told us the only thing he regrets is leaving my coffee behind in whatever price he had to pay
12:27He should have paid it. I'm sorry if I had to do it over again
12:30I would have stopped and I would have rescued as many people and until they decided they were gonna arrest me
12:35he got my wife at his own cost at a risk to himself and
12:40He was the one person who actually stopped
12:44To help just because he could right? I mean he got in his helicopter and flew up there
12:50Just because he knew he could make a difference to someone
12:54And he did he's a hero
12:57I'm sure everyone's stressed in that scenario, but he was following his heart and doing the right thing
13:03Maybe there were rules that somebody would like to impose
13:08Order on the chaos, but at the bottom line is getting those people out of there
13:14and
13:15Even if I had never been rescued knowing that she was safe because he what he did would have been enough. So
13:23Thank you, Jordan. Thank you
13:25Less than 24 hours after we interviewed Jordan sit him
13:28he was invited back into the disaster area along with dozens of other private chopper pilots a
13:34Massive all-volunteer supply and rescue effort is working out of the Hickory Airport
13:39Doing flight rescues and delivering supplies to places where military
13:43Helicopters are just too big to get into the latest numbers
13:47We have show those volunteer pilots has rescued somewhere around 200 people and have delivered
13:53Several tons of food water and medical supplies to people still stranded in the North Carolina mountains
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