"Officers worried the teen was becoming hypothermic as they attempted to reach him with ropes from the shore, but the ropes were not effective. Rieger said he moved toward the teen after hearing him yell that he could no longer feel anything. "Once he started screaming that he couldn't feel anything, I think my fatherly instincts kicked in and I just went out and got him," Rieger said."
"Crawling across the ice, Rieger managed to reach the boy, but the ice gave way. "I tried to reach for him to pull him up onto the ice, and when I did that, we both went under," Rieger said. "At that point, I could stand. I was probably about up to my shoulders, so I just started throwing him up onto the ice and breaking my way back.""
"Corporal Steven Spithaler and another officer went into the water as well, breaking through the ice to meet Rieger. "Patrolman Scambia and I just said, 'That's it, we're going in,'" Spithaler said. "The kid was so cold that he couldn't function, and he was screaming to us, 'I can't hold it, I can't hold it.'" All the officers and the teen made it safely to shore, where police worked to warm the boy."
A 13-year-old boy fell through thin ice in the middle of a retention pond in Woolwich Township around 4:30 p.m. Officers arrived and attempted to reach him with ropes from the shore while body camera video captured the rescue. Sgt. Joseph Rieger crawled onto the ice and moved toward the boy after the teen yelled that he could no longer feel anything; the ice gave way and Rieger and the boy went into the water. Corporal Steven Spithaler and another officer entered the water breaking through the ice to assist. All officers and the boy reached shore and police worked to warm the teen. The boy was taken to a hospital. Officers warned that pond ice was only a few inches thick and urged people to stay off frozen ponds and lakes.
Read at ABC7 New York
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