Utah Sheriff's Deputy Rescues Man Near Death in Frozen Lake
By Paloma Chavez
Source The Bradenton Herald
A man was nearing death when a deputy saved him after he’d fallen through a frozen lake, Utah officers said.
On Feb. 1, deputies got reports of a man who had fallen through icy Stansbury Lake while trying to rescue his dog, according to a Facebook post by the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office.
“He was at the end of his time,” Deputy Jeremy Taubman told KSL-TV. “He started telling himself and us that he was cold. He couldn’t move anymore. He couldn’t go any further.”
After Taubman got to the scene, he “quickly acted” and used his department-issued water rescue rope to pull the man to safety, deputies said.
“His friend wanted to go out in the water and tried to save him,” Taubman told the outlet. “I told him no because that would be two people we’d have to pull out.”
Taubman was able to rescue the man’s dog, and it was reunited with its family, deputies said.
The man was treated by crew from the North Tooele Fire Department and Mountain West Ambulance, deputies said.
“The more people that go out there, the more lives that are at risk, so it was a very fortunate thing, very heartwarming that we were actually able to get him out of the water before anything happened and save his life,” Tauman said, according to KSL-TV.
Officials urged the public to watch out for ice thickness.
“We need it to be at least four inches for it to support a person, but it’s really hard to tell how thick the ice is especially from the shore,” Kathleen Steadman, a representative for the Utah Drowning Prevention told KSTU. “So, it’s best to not go on the ice unless there are professionals who have done measurements.”
Tooele County is about a 35-mile drive southwest of Salt Lake City.
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