A man and his son are recovering after falling into a frozen pond Sunday off Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh.
Around 2:45 p.m., Raleigh police officers responded to a pond on Edwards Mill Road at Glen Eden Drive, near Laurel Hills Park.
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The father told WRAL News that his son, who has special needs, was fascinated by the ice and not listening to his father's warnings when he fell through the ice. As the father tried to reach him on ice he thought was thicker, he too fell in, he told WRAL News.
His yells for help drew another man, who helped to get the boy out of the water.
"I just did what I hope anybody else would do for any kid, any human in that situation," said Zack Boyd, the man who pulled the child and his father out of the water.
The father called 911 while he was in the water, he said. adding that things may have turned out differently if Boyd wasn't there.
"It means the absolute world to me as someone who was literally stuck in the water, helpless, watching their child in peril, to know that people respond like that," the father said.
Both man and child was transported to WakeMed with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
In a text message, the responding police officer thanked the man who helped a father and son.
"You are a true hero for going in that water," the officer wrote. "I get paid to do it. You put yourself second and saved that kid and I an never thank you enough. Thank you for what you did."
WRAL News received several reports of people falling into icy water during this recent cold snap.
On Feb. 1, a 10-year-old boy and his 59-year-old neighbor fell into a partially frozen pond in Cary after the man saw the boy fall in and ran outside to rescue him.
Both were in ice and water up to about adult chest height, the department said. The two were in the water for less than five minutes and are expected to be OK.
On Jan. 31, an 11-year-old child fell into the pond at Womble Park in Holly Springs after attempting to walk on the thin layer of ice that capped the water. The child is also expected to be okay.
NC officials warned about the dangers of walking on frozen bodies of water after three Texas brothers drowned after walking on a frozen pond during an ice storm in the state that gripped the southeast a week earlier.
