An 8-year-old Long Island boy who fell into an icy pond on Christmas Day, reunited with the officers who saved him on Friday — as newly released bodycam video shows the harrowing rescue effort.
The boy had been playing on the ice on a pond in East Patchogue’s Heatherwood Lakeside Village apartment complex around 1 p.m. when he fell through the ice and into chest-deep water.
A nearby resident noticed the boy in the water — he couldn’t get himself out — and called 911.
Two officers, James Rizzo and Andrew Tirelli, waded into the pond and tried to throw him a life jacket, while Highway Sergeant Michael Santillo crossed the ice to reach the child and pull him from the water.
The boy was taken to a hospital for treatment and, judging by Friday’s appearance, is physically OK.
He animatedly explained his ordeal as the officers who helped save him chuckled in the background.
News 4
News 4
The 8-year-old got to tell a whole room full of reporters about his ordeal.