A mother and her toddler were saved by a New Jersey police chief after falling into a frozen river. They were standing on the frozen Passaic River, about 50 yards from shore, when the ice cracked and they fell in. Witnesses called 911 and watched helplessly as they waited for help.
Elmwood Park Police Chief Michael Foligno was one of the first to respond to the scene and he didn’t wait for backup. He says the mom was “basically holding the baby with one arm and keeping herself afloat” with the other. “Thirty seconds felt like 10 minutes,” he recalls. “I couldn’t sit still and do nothing.”
Foligno found a canoe at a nearby gas station and jumped in, using a shovel as a paddle to get to the mom and her two-year-old daughter. He pulled them to safety and firefighters brought the canoe back to shore. The pair were taken to the hospital and they’re both expected to be okay after the icy incident.
Source: CBS New York
Photo Credit: Getty Images