A Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputy is being credited for saving the life of a dog that fell through the ice of a pond near 98th and Pioneers Blvd last week. Angela Paolini is the dog’s owner and says “Bear” had run out onto the pond and fell through.
Paolini says she initially crawled out onto the thin ice in an attempt to save her. “I was scared that I was going to lose her and I just went running. I had everything on, I think I threw my shoes off and my phone was still on me,” Paolini says. “I just started walking on the ice knowing it at some point was going to give way.”
Paolini says she struggled to get back to shore as ice continued to break. “The whole time I was thinking, not today, I’m not dying today. It’s not happening, my husband will kill me if I die.’” She says her husband called 911 and deputy John Brady arrived on the scene.
“Probably one of the more difficult things to watch for sure for me was to watch Bear in the middle of that pond clearly fighting for her life,” Brady says. “She’d go under the water and come back up, so you knew she still had some fight in her. And we finally just made the decision that we got to go get her.”
Brady says they looked around for some type of flotation device before a rural fire department arrived with a kayak. Brady has had past training for ice rescues and began pushing the kayak onto the ice.
“You knew at some point in time you were going to go in, it’s just the way it was,” Brady says. “You just didn’t know when it was going to happen.” Brady says as he headed to the middle of the pond the melting ice gave away and he ended up in the water.
He was able to go underwater and life Bear into the kayak. “She had a wonderful look on her face when I got to her for sure, because I think she was so tired.” Brady says the one year old dog had been in the water for 30 minutes.
A video of the incident is available below.
@lsonebraska On February 4, 2024, deputies and other first responders were called to help a dog that fell through the ice on a pond just outside Lincoln, Nebraska. This is body camera footage showing Deputy John Brady falling through the ice himself before bringing the dog back to safety. No serious inuries were reported and we’re extremely happy that “Bear” was returned safely to his family. #icerescue #dogrescue #waterrescue #sheriff #lawenforcement #tiktok #explore #beexceptional ♬ Epic Music(842228) – Pavel