SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) – It’s been almost two years since James Sashe lost his oldest son, Amari Quarles.
“It’s different now. You don’t hear the voice no more. You don’t hear the laughter, the smile, everything that you would remember of why he was who he was is gone,” Sashe said.
Their family had been spending the day at California’s Sand Cove Park along the Sacramento River on June 4, 2023.
They had no plans of going in the water.
“One family member actually threw the ball into the water. Elijah went to get it, and when Elijah stepped into the water, he might only been about knee deep and everything underneath him collapsed,” Sashe described.
A strong current then pulled Elijah, Amari’s 13-year-old brother, almost 100 feet from the bank.
“That’s when Amari jumped in after him,” Sashe said.
Sashe and his wife jumped, too, but the current proved to be too strong.
“I know Amari did get to Elijah at one point and told him, ‘One of us is going to have to go under and I’m going to make sure it’s not you,’ you know, being the bigger brother,” Sashe remembered.
Amari pushed his brother to his stepmother. Then, the current pulled him under.
“When Amari was going into the water, he actually pushed my wife’s hand up as to say, ‘You’re not going to come down here with me either,” Sashe said. “Like, this was his last bit of strength to make sure that he did whatever he could to even help her out.”
It was the last thing 15-year-old Amari would do.
“Whatever you would ask for in a child, he was definitely it,” Sashe said.
It’s that act that has now defined how Amari will be remembered across North America. Amari has been honored with a Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
“His story was so powerful that it touched enough people that it made its way there. How? We still don’t know,” Sashe said.
Now, Amari’s father wants to take his story of selflessness and heroism, and share it with schools across the country.
“This is something I’ve never thought about doing, but it feels more like a calling now because of what happened with him,” Sashe said.
He hopes his son’s legacy will only grow over the coming years as his family and brother continue to share the sacrifice he made.
“He’s very proud of his brother winning it, but it’s hard because at that age, you rather have your brother here,” Sashe added. “No award, no money, nothing could ever amount to him having his brother.”
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