Photo:MSP Seventh District/X
MSP Seventh District/X
A Michigan police officer who couldn’t reach a man who had fallen through the ice on a lake and was running out of time in the frigid water was able to get help with the rescue from the man’s dog, who was standing on the ice next to her owner.
“I could see him bobbing,” Bennetts said, knowing that he had to work quickly but was only able to safely stand about 30-40 feet away on the thin ice. “It could be two seconds or it could be two minutes. But when he goes under, he’s not coming back up.”
According to his body-cam video, the officer first throws out a frisbee-like rescue disc tied to a rope but it lands a few feet short of the 65-year-old man. He then enlists the help of the dog, whom he calls over and tries to get to bite the rope. When she can’t get a hold of it, Bennetts attaches the rope to her collar, then instructs the owner to call her back.
The man, who did not want to comment, was taken to a hospital for treatment and then released, according to Michigan State Police Lt. Derrick Carroll.
He had trained for water rescues and ice rescues and had himself been under ice-cold water during submersion training for about five minutes. “Within a minute your dexterity in your fingers goes, you lose speech, you lose everything,” he said.
Officer Kammeron Bennetts.Courtesy Kammeron Bennetts
Courtesy Kammeron Bennetts
Withair temperatures about 18 degreesand surface water temperature about 30 degrees, the man had been in the water about 16 minutes and was in a precarious situation, he said.
“They go under the ice,” Bennetts said. “This does not happen very often where we have a successful rescue.”
Bennetts, who owns a bird hunting dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Tanner, said he relied on his training and knowledge of dogs during the rescue.
“You revert to the tools in front of you. I only had a dog in front of me, so use the dog,” he said. “I saw she was ready to go to work.”
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source: people.com
