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Kevin Payne (24) and his seven-month-old son drowned when their car swerved off the road into a river
Filed Under:
Drowning
Published: May 29, 2010 @ 10:49 AM
Kevin Payne (24)
Date:
May 22, 2010
Cause of Death:
Drowning
Location:
St. Louis, MO
URL:
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A young man rescued from the River Des Peres on Wednesday after an auto accident died Saturday night at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. 24 year old Kevin Payne had been heading home on River Des Peres Boulevard with his infant son when he unexplainedly swerved off the road and into the storm water channel. He never regained consciousness.
Passerby Todd Gilliam saw the car sinking and called for help. Once police arrived he handed his own three year old daughter over to them and dove in. With help from another police officer Gilliam was able to free the unconscious Payne from his seat belt and rescue him. No one knew the baby was in the car until St. Louis Fire Department divers recovered the body of seven month old Trenton Payne.
Payne had recently become engaged to his son's mother, Lindsey Hertel. Her father, John Hertel said Saturday night they would rely on "family, friends and our faith in the Lord" to cope with their double loss. A joint funeral is being planned with the Ziegenhein Funeral Home after the medical examiner conducts an autopsy. "Kevin was a healthy young man; we don't know what happened," Hertel said, adding there were no apparent mechanical problems with the car.
Hertel praised Gilliam as a hero for risking his own life to try to save Payne. " All we can say is thank you and we appreciate it very much. We wish the outcome could have been different," he said. "He just needs to know that nothing is his fault. I hope he can get some closure as well."
According to Hertel, Gilliam has been offered a job with benefits thanks to the news coverage of the rescue. He had been out of work for a year.
Hertel said a Payne Family Fund has been estabalished at local U.S.Bank offices to help pay for funeral and medical expenses. Once funeral arrangements are complete they will be posted on the Ziegenhein Funeral Home website.
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