Body-worn cameras captured when Illinois police officers ventured into a retention pond Wednesday to save a 9-year-old boy who had been reported to be drowning after falling through a frozen lake while trying to retrieve a football.
According to the Aurora Police Department, just before 4:30 p.m. the 911 center received reports of the boy drowning and dispatched both police officers and firefighters to the scene. When officers arrived, they discovered the boy who had fallen through ice and an adult woman who had gone in to attempt to save the child.
Multiple officers deployed water rescue kits while two officers swam to save the drowning child and the adult female who was in the water. In a combined effort, officers were able to safely return to land with the child and the woman.
"I originally started walking out, I was like, 'Wow, this isn't bad – I can stand up,' and then it just dropped. It felt like it was no bottom." Officer Andrew Soderlund tells CBS Chicago. "That adrenaline dump that goes on in a situation like that - I don't remember the cold at all.”
The two Aurora officers, Soderlund and his partner, who swam to rescue the child sustained minor injuries and were transported to an area hospital by the Aurora Fire Department.
The police department reports the child sustained minor injuries and was also transported to an area hospital. The female adult was treated on scene and was not transported. Everybody was released from the hospital in stable condition, police say.
