OutdoorMN News - Conservation officer receives award for saving man from drowning

[Rick]

A conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has been awarded a DNR lifesaving award as he and other emergency responders in central Minnesota saved a man from drowning after he went through the ice with his ATV on Platte Lake March 13.

L–R, Greg Salo, assistant division director; Kuske; Tim Knellwolf, District-11 Enforcement Division supervisor

James A. Pattock, 69, of Foley was still in the water when conservation officer Paul Kuske of Pierz notified the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office he was responding to the incident.

By the time Kuske met first responders at the public access, Pattock had been in the water for 15 or 20 minutes, about 400 feet from shore.

Kuske put on his personal flotation device (PFD), hooked up two rescue ropes, grabbed a ladder, and began walking toward Pattock. Just as he started walking out, Pattock was able to pull himself up onto the ice. He had found a small island of good ice to stand on.

The 6 to 12 inches of ice was honeycombed and rotten. Some areas would support a person and an ATV while in other places the ice would crumble under feet.

Kuske got about halfway out to Pattock when he broke through the ice.

Kuske got himself back onto the ice and retreated toward shore and instructed rescue personnel to start looking for a boat at nearby cabins.

They found a boat and got it onto the ice. Pierz Police Chief Eric Hanneken arrived with a cold water rescue suit while Minnesota State Trooper Brian Bearce began managing the ropes.

Hanneken and Kuske began sliding the boat across the ice.

“As we neared the victim we continued to break through the ice, using the boat for support,” Kuske said. “The victim’s ATV was floating in the hole the victim had fallen into. We got the boat up onto the ice that the victim was standing on and helped him into the boat.”

The three men got to shore and personnel from the Pierz Fire Department took Pattock to a waiting ambulance where he appeared okay. He was taken to the hospital for examination.

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