Brother comes to rescue after 3-year-old falls from 100-foot cliff, OK family says

When a 3-year-old boy ”plummeted” off of a towering cliff at an Oklahoma park, his big brother wasted no time rushing to save him, the boy’s family told news outlets.

Dakota Duke, who is 7, and his younger brother Riley were hiking at Chickasaw National Recreation Area with their grandmother and her dog in the afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 25, their mother told TV station KXII.

They were walking along the Rock Creek Trail when the boy fell from a nearly 100-foot cliff, the National Park Service said in a statement to McClatchy News.

“We’re not really sure if he slipped, or he fell, or tripped,” the boys’ mother, Amy Branom, told KXII. Riley was apparently following his grandmother’s dog and when it wandered near the cliff’s edge, Riley kept following and fell, plunging into a creek below.

As soon as he saw his brother tumble over the side, Dakota hurried after him, sliding and maneuvering down the rugged cliff face until he reached the creek, Branom told The Oklahoman. He jumped into the creek, lifted his badly injured brother’s head out of the water and waited for rescue, Branom told the newspaper.

The boys didn’t have to wait long. A call for help came in to park rangers at 5:34 p.m., and by 5:50 p.m. both Dakota and Riley were rescued by rangers and area firefighters, NPS said.

Dakota was released from the hospital two days after the fall, but Riley is still hospitalized and on a ventilator, having suffered two broken ribs, a broken forehead and brain damage, The Oklahoman reported.

“We don’t know if he’s going to be playing T-ball next year or if we’re gonna be pushing him around in a wheelchair,” Branom told the outlet. “We just don’t know ... It doesn’t matter what the future looks like, as long as we have him.”

The Chickasaw National Recreation Area is roughly 84 miles southeast of downtown Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published March 5, 2023 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Brother comes to rescue after 3-year-old falls from 100-foot cliff, OK family says."