Police Officer Rescues Man From Lake Michigan At Oak Street
CHICAGO (CBS) -- 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.
"I was looking at the gentleman. He had that fear of 'this is gonna be it,'" Hardy said.
The officer said it was that man's look of terror that compelled him to hang on, keeping the 58-year-old man's head above water. At first, Hardy didn't see him but stayed on the radio with dispatchers.
A dispatcher told Hardy a 911 caller had reported spotting the man in the shadow of the Hancock Building.
Hardy spotted the man's clothes on the ice, and saw the man struggling to stay afloat.
"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.
"I feel I was just blessed with the opportunity to try to get him out before it was too late," Hardy said.
The man was in the frigid water of Lake Michigan for more than 10 minutes before he was pulled out, and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was recovering Sunday night.
Hardy said the man thanked him for saving his life.
