COLUMBUS — Authorities say a 6-year-old boy who fell into a frozen Ohio pond was unresponsive when he was pulled from the water, and a police officer who tried to rescue him also was taken to a hospital.
Merlin St. Germain fell through ice on a pond near an apartment complex on Belcher Drive at approximately 8:48 Monday morning.
WBNS-TV reports that police say the boy was in the water for over 10 minutes before a fire department rescue team retrieved him and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Officer Randall Lyons, who first went into the water after the boy, was in stable condition St. Ann’s Hospital, according to Sgt. Dave Sicilian.
He had tied a rope around himself while his partner, Ofc. Deb Paxton, secured it to a post but when the ice broke, Lyons was unable to reach the boy and Lyons and the boy had to be rescued by Columbus Division of Fire divers.
The boy’s 9-year-old sister, Camilda Neriva, who also tried to rescue him was pulled to safety by apartment complex staff members and was also listed in stable condition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.