ERNUL, N.C. (WNCT) – Chocowinity EMS Capt. Shane Grier is no hero.
Well, that’s according to him anyway.
While Grier said he was simply in the right place at the right time, his presence made all the difference in the world for 3-year-old Casey Hathaway’s survival.
“He is at home, and you can’t ask for any other better story than that,” said Grier.
Casey returning home alive is the end result everyone hoped and prayed for.
“I was glad to see him,” Grier said. “It was one of the best things I have ever seen in the woods.”
Grier said he remembers seeing relief in Casey’s eyes when he rescued him from the woods near his grandmother’s home on Toler Road in Ernul.
“Relief that someone else was there with him, for him to survive that and the whole ordeal that he went through, you can’t put a measurement on that,” Grier said. “Just picked him up — I think the next 65 yards I was pretty much in a flat run trying to get out of the woods to something warm, to get him warmed up.”
Grier said the rescue wouldn’t have been possible without the tip from Linda Fraker, a neighbor who lives on Aurora Road.
“All the difference in the world; we may not have found him in time had it not been for her,” Grier said.
Fraker heard Casey crying for his mother from the woods while walking her dogs.
She immediately alerted authorities.
“We were praying that he was going to be found that night,” said Fraker. “And 10 minutes after I got off my knees, I let the dogs outside, and I heard a small faint cry. So, to me, that was the Lord. He answered the prayer. He answered it that night. He answered it quick.”
Grier said Casey’s disappearance hit home for so many.
“That’s why the response was so tremendous,” Grier said. “We all at some time intertwine or place ourselves in the position of that family. I have a 5-year-old boy who is very active, so it is emotional at times.”
A photo of Casey now sits near photos of Grier’s children in his office, a reminder that the search for Casey Hathaway will have a lasting memory.
“I will never forget this,” Grier said. “Never. I have done searches for 20 years and for a search to be successful, that is a good story you can put in for so many that are so bad.”
