UPDATE 1/19/24 6:14 p.m.
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY — It was an amazing rescue in Grand Traverse County after a 65-year-old Traverse City man fell through the ice into Lake Arbutus in East Bay Township, while checking the thickness of the ice.
Fortunately, that man had his dog with him-and the dog, a Brittany named Ruby was able to help law enforcement bring the man to safety.
Kammeron Bennetts, a motor carrier officer with Michigan State Police’s Traverse City was the first law enforcement officer on scene. He said he knew time was critical when he surveyed the scene.
“I could see about, you know, the first portion of his head and chest bobbing above the water. So, I knew that, you know, we didn’t have a lot of time, we had to get out there,” said Bennetts.
Bennetts said they train for these scenarios, and they have a lot of tools in their toolbox for open water rescue but not so much for soft ice rescue. He used what he had, which was a rescue disk.
“They’re designed to be deployed to a victim in open water if someone is somewhat close, injured in the water, then they can swim to that desk. But in this situation, it’s either has to fall in the hole that they’re in or right next to it,” said Bennetts.
Bennetts attempted to throw the rescue disc to the man. Although it was a great deployment, the disk fell about five to 10 feet short of him. Bennetts used the only other tool he had left, and that was the owners dog Ruby. Bennetts said Ruby came right to him and seemed to understand pretty quickly, this was not the time for play.
“The second I grabbed her collar, she sat down and looked at me and you could tell the whole demeanor changed. I clipped it on her, and she jumped right on top of him to give him the disk,” said Bennetts.
Bennetts then told the man to hang onto the disk. He started pulling on the rope attached to the rescue disk. Bennetts said on hard ice it’s easy to push yourself out of the water but not when the ice is spongy, it just breaks up as you push yourself forward.
“Luckily, we were able to find some good ice after we pulled him a decent amount. I was losing traction myself, so at this time I got one good pull out of him, and it popped him up and out of the water,” said Bennetts.
Another firefighter from Grand Traverse Metro arrived and helped Bennetts pull the man to safety.
Bennetts said the man was in the water for 16 minutes. Both the man and Ruby are ok.
He said he thinks the man wearing a float coat contributed to him being able to stay above the water in frigid temperatures.
1/18/24 5:55 p.m.
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY — Michigan State Police said that a 65-year-old Traverse City man was rescued with the help of his dog after falling through the ice on Arbutus Lake in East Bay Township.
On Thursday, around 11:45 a.m., MSP were sent to Arbutus Lake after bystanders on the shore witnessed a man fall through the ice. When Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Officer Kammeron Bennetts arrived on the scene, he grabbed the rescue disc from the back of his patrol car and went out on the ice. He saw the man in the frozen water, and then his dog, Ruby.
MSP said that Bennetts could not reach the man due to the ice conditions an instead attached the rescue disc to Ruby’s collar. He then told the man to call his dog, and when he did Ruby ran back with the rescue disc. Bennetts then told the man to take the disc from Ruby and start kicking his legs.
After being rescue from the ice, the man was taken to the nearest hospital for treatment and released later.
MSP said that the man was in the water for about 16 minutes.
Michigan State Police were assisted by a firefighter from Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department and East Bay Township EMS.
