Quick action by two Hightstown police officers saved a man and his dog from drowning in a frigid Peddie Lake on Main Street on Jan. 29, according to the Hightstown Police Department.
The 43-year-old man, who lives in Maine and who was visiting the area, was walking his 70-pound pit bull dog along Peddie Lake near the Tavern on the Lake restaurant around 8:35 p.m. when the dog ran off and jumped into the lake, police said.
The man jumped into the lake to save the dog, but he was unable to push the dog out of the water and over top of the 7-foot-tall retaining wall near the Peddie Lake bridge, police said. He began yelling for help.
That’s when Sgt. Francisco Jimenez and Sgt. Benjamin Miller, both of the Hightstown Police Department, responded to the area near 101 Main Street, police said.
Sgt. Jimenez grabbed the dog’s collar and pulled the dog out of the 40-degree water. Once the dog was safely on shore, the two police officers grabbed the man and pulled him out of the near-freezing water.
The man was treated at the scene by paramedics and police, but refused further medical attention. Both the man and his dog left the scene in stable condition, police said.