A Chicago police officer rescued a man from Lake Michigan, just minutes before the man sank into the freezing water.

Police were notified of a person who had jumped in the water near Oak Street Beach around 1 p.m. Sunday.

Near North District Officer Wadell Hardy, a 22-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was the first to arrive, and found the victim struggling in the icy water. He admitted he was afraid the ice beneath him would give way, but he knew he couldn’t let the man drown, CBS Chicago  reports.

 “I tried to reach down to grab him, but I began to slide, so what I did at that time is I just laid down on the ice, and flattened myself out, and I reached out both hands, grabbed his arms, and started to pull him out of the water,” he said.

Hardy said the man jumped into the lake in a sort of routine Polar Plunge, and then realized the ice on the surface made it impossible to get out. After several minutes, Police Marine Unit and Fire Department divers arrived and helped save him.