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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A man who fell through the ice on a frozen Michigan lake was rescued after a quick-thinking state police officer used the stranded man's dog to get rescue equipment to him and pull the man to safety.
Bystanders called 911 on Jan. 18 after the 65-year-old man fell through ice-covered Arbutus Lake, police said.
The body camera worn by officer Kammeron Bennetts captured the rescue, initially showing the man trapped in frigid waters with just his head and shoulders above the thin ice, and his dog standing at his side.
Bennetts first tried to throw a rescue disc tethered to a rope out to the man. When that failed, Bennetts asked the man to send his dog Ruby to him.
"Ruby come here! Come here Ruby!" Bennetts shouted in the video before whistling for the canine, which ran to him and arrived tail wagging.
The officer tied the rescue disc to the dog's collar and asked the man to call Ruby back to him. When she returned to her owner, the man took the disc from Ruby and rescuers pulled him onto safer ice near the lake's edge. Bennetts and a local firefighter then grabbed the man's arms to complete the rescue, with Ruby still attached to the rope.
The man was taken to a hospital and later released. Ruby won praise in a post on X.
"What a good girl!!! Amazing ice rescue from 7th District, MCO Bennetts. Creative thinking helped save a life!! EXCELLENT JOB MCO Bennetts and RUBY!!" the tweet stated.
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