Some teenagers were playing on what they thought was a frozen pond in Toledo, Ohio, when the thin ice cracked and one of the boys fell through into the frigid water. Officers quickly responded and started making their way across the pond with a line to pull the boy out.
As Officer Brian O'Connell was crossing the ice, he fell through as well. Officer Thomas Killen started heading toward O'Connell but the thin ice could not support his weight and he fell into the water as well. The dramatic rescue was captured by Killen's body camera.
“The only thing I could think of was ‘I've got to get him out of there.' I reached forward. I got his hand. We tried to pull him out and the weight of him and my weight on the ice was just too much and I went down. The only thing I thought was 'oh my god, this is so cold,'" Officer Killen told ABC 13.
Two other officers were able to pull O'Connell and Killen out of the frozen pond, allowing them to finally save the teenager, who had been trapped in the water for nearly 20 minutes. With the help of firefighters, the officers were able to pull the 17-year-old from the pond.
"His strength was shot. How he managed to hold onto that rope to get out, to have them pull him out is beyond me. Thank God it happened that way," said O’Connell.
The teen was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.