A 16-year-old girl has died after she saved her 13-year-old brother when they fell through the ice on a frozen lake in Ohio on Tuesday evening.
ABC News reports that the teen girl and her brother fell through the ice by the boat docks at Rocky Fork State Park in Hillsboro. The water was just 36 degrees by the time authorities arrived at the scene, and the girl was found unresponsive under the ice. The boy, meanwhile, was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition. “She got him out, before she succumbed,” Lt. Branden Jackman said in an interview with Cincinnati’s WCPO. “Don’t go out on the ice. It caused a very bad tragedy last night.”
An officer part of the recovery efforts also died after suffering a “medical emergency” at the scene. Jason Lagore was transported to a nearby hospital, but was unable to be resuscitated. “Officer Lagore was a dedicated officer, having served 15 years with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,” reads the Department of Natural Resources’ statement on his death. “He leaves behind a wife, two young sons and his K-9 partner, Sarge.”
Ohio governor Mike DeWine offered his condolences to Lagore’s family on Twitter. “In honor of his life and service, I’ve ordered flags lowered on public buildings and grounds in Highland County, and at the Statehouse, Riffe Center, and Rhodes Tower in Columbus,” he tweeted on Wednesday
“You look at water and you think, ‘Oh, it’s just water,’” Jackman added. “Thirty-six-degree water is no different than a three-story house fire. They’ll both kill you just as quick.”
