MEDINA COUNTY, Ohio – An officer's body camera captured a team effort to save a family's pet dog after the pooch broke through the thin ice covering an Ohio lake.
A sergeant with the Medina County Sheriff's Office rushed to Lake Dawn in York Township Tuesday afternoon after the owner of a golden retriever named Rex reported that his dog had fallen into the frigid water.
Rex's family ran and asked a neighbor, Bill Devine, for help. Devine grabbed a canoe, attached it to a rope on shore and pushed it out to the thin ice.
He and the dog owner's husband, who had just arrived home from work, were able to pull Rex out of the water, where he had been struggling to stay afloat.
But, they still had to figure out a way to get the dog to shore without falling through the ice themselves.
Knowing that he and the other two rescuers were in a precarious position, Sgt. Samo Mernik picked up Rex and put the retriever in the canoe, and helped push the canoe to shore.
The dramatic rescue was caught on the deputy's body camera.
Sgt. Mernik and Bill Devine knew that Rex was still in danger. Their priority was to keep hypothermia from setting in.
They wrapped him in blankets and then carried him inside the owner's house. To keep Rex warm, they placed him by a space heater and fed him a bowl of broth.
A day later, as a result of their efforts, Rex has been given a clean bill of health.
