Elmwood Police Chief Micahel Foligno was sitting at his desk when the call from Hot came in. Within minutes, he was at the scene, but there was no apparatus to use to help get the woman and child ashore. The mother was screaming, I can t hold her anywhere, I can t hold on anymore, and I couldn t sit still, said Foligno.
He grabbed a red kayak that a gas station attendant had brought from across the street. He went onto the ice, having to break through it as he clawed his way 50 yards into the frozen river, where the woman was fighting to hold on. It is believed the pair may have been in the water for around 40 minutes.