Skip to Content

5 teenagers save 2 small children after sled somehow ends up in frigid pond

Click here for updates on this story

    MIDDLETON, New Jersey (WCBS) — Five teenage boys are being hailed as heroes, after a day of sledding last week nearly turned tragic in New Jersey.

The teens jumped into action to save two children from an icy pond, CBS2’s Kiran Dhillon reported Sunday.

As snow piled up and excitement ran high on Thursday, 8-year-old Olivia Heid and her 4-year-old brother, RJ, hopped on their sled for the first time ever. But little did they know what was about to happen next.

“Oh my God, this could have been a catastrophic situation,” mother Stephanie Irlbeck said.

The family was sledding at the Beacon Hill Country Club in Atlantic Highlands. The kids were having a great time until their sled lost control.

“They were continuing getting more momentum. I realized right they’re like holy crap, they’re going down to that water,” father Richard Heid said.

“You could see in their in their faces that they knew something bad was about to happen,” Irlbeck added.

The sled steered right into an icy pond.

“It was like freezing. Our faces were in shock. RJ was like, really cold,” Olivia Heid said.

Five teens nearby heard the commotion and then jumped into action.

“Me and Joey first saw them. I think we’re both thinking, should we like jump in front of the raft to try to stop it?” Drew Scalice said. “We couldn’t. It was going way too fast.”

Instead, 14-year-old Kieran Foley jumped into the water, rescuing little RJ first and then Olivia. He handed each off one by one to his friends, forming a human chain rescue.

“We definitely had to do something. We can’t just sit there and watch,” Foley said.

The boys got the kids to safety and are now being heralded as heroes in the community, a title they don’t accept.

“Honestly, I feel like I didn’t do much,” Ryan Day said.

“We hope that anybody would do that. It just happened to be us there,” Tyler Armagan added.

The Heid family disagreed.

“What they did was, like, just amazing,” Richard Heid said. “It was awesome to see little kids do that.”

“Adults wouldn’t do things like that, you know?” Irlbeck said.

The parents said the teens didn’t hesitate for a moment to help their kids and thus deserve all the recognition in the world.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Article Topic Follows: Regional News

Jump to comments ↓

Author Profile Photo

CNN

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KVIA ABC 7 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content