By Derek Gentile
The Berkshire Eagle Staff
LEE, Mass. — Quick thinking by a local police officer saved a local couple who had fallen through the ice Sunday on Laurel Lake.
According to Police Chief Ronald C. Glidden, Officer Adrian Kohlenberger was on a routine patrol at about 12:30 p.m. when he drove by the lake’s boat ramp.
Kohlenberger noticed a man and a woman walking on the lake, and while he was watching them, they both fell through the ice.
Call for help
He immediately entered the parking area of the boat ramp and called the communications center to have them contact other emergency services for a possible ice rescue.
After removing a rescue rope from the trunk of his police car, Kohlenberger carefully approached the couple, later identified as Joseph and Jane Kavanaugh of Devon Road, Glidden said.
As Kohlenberger got closer, Jane Kavanaugh pulled herself out of the water. Kohlenberger and a nearby ice fisherman then got Joseph Kavanaugh out of the icy lake.
Not ice fishing
Glidden said the couple were walking on the ice, not ice fishing. The Lee Fire Department, Volunteer Ambulance Squad, state police and Lenox Police all responded to the scene.
The couple refused medical treatment.
“It was lucky Adrian was driving by,” Glidden said. “He responded very well to the emergency.”
Copyright 2008 The Berkshire Eagle