Teen honored for saving boy’s life
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When 15-year-old Gabriela Ramos saw two vicious dogs set upon a boy half her age, she readied her fists, her speed - and her training as a Border Patrol Explorer to fight them off and take the boy to safety.
“I just got out and ran,” said Ramos, describing how she positioned her car keys - the only thing at hand - to turn her fists into spikes, start punching and stayed facing the dogs, just as she was trained in a lesson about traffic stops. “I wanted to get those dogs away from him. I was scared, but they were both coming at me.”
The Deming teen’s actions on Oct. 5 were honored Thursday at a special recognition ceremony at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station.
Even as the dogs bit her and 7-year-old Eddie Chavez, on the head, ribs, and legs, Ramos took “decisive action where many would not,” said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Scott A. Luck in the ceremony.
“I was trying to fight them, but they were on top of me,” Chavez recalled. “That’s when Gabby came. She told me to get in the car … I thought I was going to die.”
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Mike Paul, the national coordinator for the 700-person Explorer program, said Ramos’ “act of heroism” not only earned her Explorer of the Year honors for her sector, but also put her in the running for the national honor as well.
I Paged this when it happened. I am happy to see that Gabriela has received more recognition than the basket of goodies the boy’s father rounded up at the time. I hope she gets the national honor. I’ll keep you posted.
Gilbert Chavez helps his son Eddie Chavez, 7, show the scars from a vicious dog attack that left him with bite marks on his legs, ribs and a staple on the top of his head. “I was trying to fight them but they were on top of me so I couldn’t … I thought I was going to die,” Eddie said. (Shari V. Hill/Sun-News)
Border Patrol Explorer Gabriela Ramos, 15, of Deming is honored with a plaque Thursday for her heroic and selfless efforts after she saved 7-year-old Eddie Chavez as a Rottweiler and a Doberman Pinscher attacked him on his way to school Oct. 5. (Shari V. Hill/Sun-News)