Video shows police officer save 11-year-old boy who fell through lake ice
By Nick Caloway
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WEST LONG BRANCH, New Jersey (WCBS) — A little boy is lucky to be alive after falling through the ice on a lake in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Video shows a police officer going into the frigid water to save the boy.
West Long Branch Police Officer David Brosonski is seen trudging through the frigid, icy waters of Franklin Lake. He was first on the scene after the 11-year-old fell through the ice on Monday afternoon.
“I know that the ice was several inches thick, possibly three inches thick. It was not thick enough for me to slide over,” Brosonski said. “As I was walking through the ice, I was using my knees to break from underneath to give me a pathway to get to the victim.”
Brosonski is highly trained in water rescue. The water temperatures were hovering around 36 degrees on Monday.
“At those temperatures, it only takes minutes for hyperthermia to start setting in,” Brosonski said. “As I was making my way to the victim, he was yelling to me and crying that he couldn’t feel his limbs, he couldn’t feel his legs or arms, so I knew that, at that point, I had to just go as fast as I can to get to him and get him out of the water.”
The boy was safely pulled from the water, treated at a nearby hospital, and released.
Officials noted that the January cold snap had made it safe to venture out on the ice, but park regulars had noticed in the last week that the ice had gotten dangerously thin.
“I could see spaces out there, that it was not frozen,” West Long Branch resident Palmyra Fisher said.
“We’ve had people out there for the past week with their parents. They were ice skating. They were playing hockey. There was no issues,” Lt. Brian Burton said. “But obviously, yesterday was a different condition when you, kind of like weather like today, when it gets into the 50s, it’s a completely different story, and all that ice starts to melt and we had what we had.”
Officials are now warning residents if you’re unsure if it’s safe to walk on the ice, you shouldn’t.
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