Kenji “Flash” Bowen was just trying to find a safe way home Monday when he ended up saving three lives.
The 2018 East Columbus graduate and football and baseball standout was driving home to Leland with his girlfriend Caitlyn and their baby. U.S. 74 was shut down due to flooding, so they began searching for an alternate route home, but the most direct routes were closed.
“We turned down Woodyard Road, and got to the place where it was flooded,” he said. “There was no way I was going through that with my family, so I got ready to turn around.
“There was a truck pulling into the water from the other side, and I tried to flash my lights at him to tell him to stop, but I guess he didn’t see me.”
The driver of the 2500 series pickup, a man from Kelly, realized that he couldn’t make it through the floodwater, and stopped. The truck lost traction on the grassy shoulder of the road when he tried to reverse course.
“I tried to wave at him to power through it,” Bowen said, “but it was too late.”
The truck began to drift as the swift-flowing water pushed against the side. The driver apparently tried to turn around, but the truck began floating into the deeper water below the roadway. The ditch had about a two-foot drop below the roadway, Bowen said, but the water was far deeper.
Bowen didn’t hesitate.
“I got out my truck and just went out there fast as I could,” he said. “That water was flowing stronger than anything I had ever seen. I got to the truck and grabbed hold, then started working toward them.” The couple was trying to open the truck doors, Bowen said, but the rushing water quickly began filling the cab, making it sink faster.
“I told them to crawl out the windows,” he said.
Bowen helped the woman out the window and to shore, where Caitlyn was waiting.
“She was wearing her slippers,” he said, “and she’s not but about five feet tall. The water would have carried her away.”
Bowen went back into the water – which was reportedly four to five feet deep by that point – and began helping the male driver of the truck.
“They weren’t going to leave their dog,” Bowen said. “The dog, he was fighting and trying to stay afloat. The man was all scratched up by time we got him out.”
The two men helped each other away from the truck just as it became submerged.
“He lost everything in there,” Bowen said. “His toolbox, everything they had inside the truck was gone.”
Bowen drove the rescued couple and their dog home to Kelly, then he and his own family made their way home.
The ironic part of Bowen’s quick action is that he doesn’t like to swim.
“I really can’t swim well at all,” he laughed. “I don’t like going out on the water. You can ask my friends. I’ve been out on Lake Waccamaw a few times, but I really don’t like deep water. So I never really learned to swim. I can swim enough, but I don’t care for it.”
An avid athlete during his four years at ECHS, Bowen earned the name Flash for his speed on the field and the diamond. Bowen said he had no choice but to help when he saw the truck floating into the deep water.
“I don’t know if it was adrenaline, or my training as an athlete, or what, but I just had to do something. I couldn’t just watch.”
