WRAL.com⁠50%

Holly Springs officer honored for pulling 11-year-old boy from icy pond ⁠47%

By WRAL staff⁠24%

7/21/2026, 12:17:52 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Appeal to Emotion, and Unattributed Quote, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 48.2% saturation with 95 hits. Analysis detected 517 faulty-reasoning hits from 197 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.7% and a BS Rank of ⁠47% (11,013 of 20,466 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.80% of the article peer group.

A Holly Springs police officer will be honored on Tuesday for his heroic actions in January. 
Officer Perry Evans jumped into an icy pond at Womble Park on January 10 to rescue an 11-year-old boy, according to the Holly Springs Police Department. 
On that day, the boy was submerged in the cold water for over three minutes, according to police. 
A witness alerted Evans, who immediately went into the pond, pulled the boy from the water and placed the child inside his patrol car to help him warm up before first responders arrived. 
Neither Evans nor the boy had to be transported to the hospital. 
On Tuesday, Evans will be named Officer of the Month by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. 
A ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. at the Devils Ridge Golf Club in Holly Springs. 
“Officer Evans’ quick thinking and bravery saved a young life under extremely dangerous conditions,” said Bill Alexander, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. 
“His actions are a reminder of the courage and dedication law enforcement officers show every day to protect their communities." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 10.2%WRAL staff: 3.2%WRAL: 4.1%Confirmation Bias10.2%This article: 9.1%WRAL staff: 1.8%WRAL: 1.0%Anchoring Bias9.1%This article: 9.1%WRAL staff: 1.8%WRAL: 3.2%Availability Heuristic9.1%This article: 10.2%WRAL staff: 2.0%WRAL: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic10.2%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.2%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.0%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 8.1%WRAL staff: 4.2%WRAL: 7.2%Framing Effect8.1%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.1%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 16.8%WRAL staff: 4.5%WRAL: 2.2%Optimism Bias16.8%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 2.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 6.1%WRAL staff: 3.3%WRAL: 7.7%Negativity Bias6.1%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 4.0%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.0%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 1.4%WRAL: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 48.2%WRAL staff: 13.8%WRAL: 1.7%Halo Effect48.2%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.4%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.5%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.2%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Straw Man0.0%This article: 35.5%WRAL staff: 12.7%WRAL: 2.6%Appeal to Authority35.5%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.2%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 10.2%WRAL staff: 5.9%WRAL: 2.8%Hasty Generalization10.2%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 23.4%WRAL staff: 4.5%WRAL: 4.8%Appeal to Emotion23.4%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 3.4%WRAL: 2.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 16.8%WRAL staff: 3.2%WRAL: 1.2%Anecdotal16.8%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 1.2%WRAL: 1.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.4%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.7%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 22.3%WRAL staff: 7.0%WRAL: 2.0%Unattributed Quote22.3%This article: 13.2%WRAL staff: 3.2%WRAL: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection13.2%This article: 13.2%WRAL staff: 7.4%WRAL: 5.0%Biased Writer Voice13.2%This article: 10.2%WRAL staff: 2.0%WRAL: 1.0%Indoctrination10.2%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%WRAL staff: 0.0%WRAL: 0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

197 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers46%attributed speech107writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageHolly Springs Police Department • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageNational Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageBill Alexander • 26 words • 100.0% coverageBill Alexander • 20 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Bill Alexander

100%flagged-word coverage
46 attributed words51% of attributed speech74% writer coverage
0%30.0%60.0%Quote-first Misdirection+56.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Bill Alexander: 56.5%56.5%Biased Writer Voice+56.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Bill Alexander: 56.5%56.5%Indoctrination+43.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Bill Alexander: 43.5%43.5%Unattributed Quote-16.8 ptsWriter: 16.8%Bill Alexander: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.