At 9:22 AM on January 19, 2024, ResQ Disc received a message via Facebook from Michigan State Police Dispatcher Tina Shoemaker. After thanking Shoemaker for reporting the rescue and asking her to where and to whom we should send the Free Disc with Reported Rescue, we started getting calls and emails including an email from Fox Weather.
Turns out, this rescue went viral – getting picked up by news organizations nationwide from local news to national media outlets like USA Today, The Washington Post, The Guardian, NBC News, and Fox Weather (to mention a few) and across social media platforms including Facebook page “We Rate Dogs”.
We are ecstatic that this human’s life was saved and equally as elated at both Ruby the dog’s incredible assistance and the quick-thinking actions of Officer Kammeron Bennetts, Michigan State Police.
According to reports, Officer Bennetts responded to a 911 call made by bystanders who witnessed the 65-year-old man fall through the ice on Arbutus Lake in East Bay Township approximately 9 miles southeast of Traverse City, MI.
Bennetts’ first attempt didn’t quite reach the victim and he quickly drew the ResQ Disc back. But rather than attempt re-deployment, this resourceful officer enlisted the help of the victim’s dog, Ruby. He tied the device to her collar and returned to her human.
With the assistance of a Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department firefighter and instruction to the victim to kick his legs out and lay flat, Bennetts pulled the man out of the freezing water and to safety… the man had been in the freezing water for approximately 16 minutes. He was taken to a nearby hospital, treated and released.
Outstanding job all around! Saving lives is the whole reason the ResQ Disc was invented.
The Michigan State Police have been using ResQ Disc for years and have reported multiple successful rescues using ResQ Disc.