PEKIN, Ill. – any people feel they’re heroes anyway; but Monday, some of the men and women on the Pekin Police and fire forces got officially recognized for it.
The officers received either departmental awards or medals of valor from the city, after several jumped into Lake Arlann February 28th to rescue a four-year-old boy who was walking across the partially-frozen lake, but fell through.
“They jumped in without any thought of their own safety at the time,” said John Dossey, Pekin Police Chief. “It was just the right combination of people who were there and working together, from citizens in the community, [to] fire department personnel, who made this a successful outcome.”
Dossey tells WMBD’s The Craig Collins Show at least one of his officers started to suffer some of the effects of hypothermia right away.
But anyone involved has since recovered.
“It’s about that muscle memory,” said Trent Reeise, Pekin Fire Chief. “For that situation we’re speaking about, [the victim] was a four-year-old child. But, you train so much thinking that, as an adult, that you kind of become a robot in that moment and you’re just working on a victim.”
Reeise, tells WMBD’s Craig Collins and Will Stevenson it’s not until later that the police and firefighters realized they were saving the life of a boy.
City officials also credit the public for the 911 calls they made, and the dispatchers who worked hard to sort the whole situation out.
