Workers in the right spot at the right time to save dog from icy water
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Hamden (WFSB) — Heroes aren’t always noticeable, they’re not always in a “uniform” making them easy to recognize.
Three men doing tree work were able to rescue a dog from the icy waters of a nearby partially frozen lake.
The ice beneath the Davis Street Bridge on Lake Whitney plays tricks on the eye.
“It’s deceptively icy,” Hamden Animal Control Officer Mitch Gibbs said.
Gibb got a call during his shift earlier this week that a dog was missing.
He had no idea three men working at a nearby golf course would save that caller’s pet.
“The dog had to leave the parking lot of the dog park, make it across the golf course, to get over here. So almost a mile from where she went missing,” Gibbs said.
“We heard the noise, but we couldn’t really see where the dog was. So, we yelled to a jogger going over the bridge “Hey, you guys see where the dog is?” and the jogger told us that he’s in the water, “Melillo said.
Charlie’s body temperature dropped 7 degrees in minutes. She was in mild hypothermia.
“I ran to the other side and saw his head sticking out, he grabbed a rope, he flung it down to me, i wrapped it around my arm, I got down and crawled to him, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out, and slowly brought him back,” Adam Gigola of the tree service said.
Gibbs says if Anthony Melillo, Adam Gigola, and LaVaughn Price hadn’t reacted with such bravery and as quickly as they did, Charlie wouldn’t be alive.
“I was amazed. You always hope that in a situation like that that someone would try to help and these guys without hesitation they got right in and did what needed to be done,” Gibbs said.
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