A 65-year-old Michigan man was rescued from a frozen lake on Thursday when a fast-acting officer team up with the man’s dog to pull him out of the water, according to Michigan State Police.
The rescue occurred at about 11:45 a.m. in East Bay Township, state police said in a statement. The agency also released a harrowing two-minute video, which shows motor carrier officer Kammeron Bennetts working with the man’s dog, Ruby, to pull him out of Arbutus Lake.
East Bay Township is in the northwestern region of the state’s Lower Peninsula.
The man rescued from the lake is from nearby Traverse City, state police said.
“The quick actions of MCO Bennetts along with the help from Ruby, they were able to perform a successful ice rescue. The man was in the water for approximately 16 minutes,” state police said.
Bystanders called 911 after seeing the man fall through ice, according to state police.
Body camera footage shows Bennetts getting near the lake and taking out a “rescue disc” from his patrol vehicle.
State police said Bennetts could not reach the man in the water because of the ice conditions.
Video show Bennetts, who was a distance from the man in the lake, shouting: “I’m going to try and send this out to you, OK?” A short time later, Bennetts asks the man, “Send your pup here. Will she come to me?”
He then orders the dog, “Ruby, come here. Come here, Ruby.”
The dog then runs to Bennetts, who attaches the orange rescue disc to Ruby’s collar, which is tied to a yellow rope, video shows. Bennetts then asked the man to call for his dog while the officer holds onto the rope.
According to the video, Bennetts then tells the man to grab ahold of the disc.
When the man has the disc, the officer tells him, “I need you to kick your feet. Kick your feet back. Bring your feet up to the surface by kicking your feet.”
The officer is heard breathing heavily on the video.
Bennetts continues to shout orders at the man, the video showed: “Keep pulling on that disc. Pull on the disc — kick your feet. Keep kicking your feet.”
The video then shows the man, who is now out of the lake, reaching the officer and a second person. The rescued man was pulled to them while on his stomach, according to the video.
The footage ends with Bennetts calling on the heroic K-9, “Ruby, Ruby come,” while the dog is out of the camera’s view.
Earlier this week, authorities in Hawaii said they were able to rescue a hiker who fell 200 feet down a slope, in part, because of her barking dog.
