Heroic Effort Leads to an Unexpected Recovery
What started as a routine wildlife photography outing turned into a life-threatening situation when a man fell through the ice in a marsh. After struggling for an hour to free himself, he called 911. Responding officers rushed to the scene in the dark, navigating treacherous terrain to save him from freezing to death.
To reach the victim, one officer crossed a 3-foot-deep stream, climbed a bank, and pushed another 75 feet through brambles and cattails into the marsh. The rescue was successful—but in the process, the officer lost his personal cellphone. With a fresh 3-inch snowfall covering the area, finding it seemed impossible.
Enter Darrin Gray from The Ring Finders. Darrin contacted fellow Ring Finder Paul Nolan, who happened to be working just 15 minutes away and had his metal detecting gear with him. Despite the bitter cold and no waders, Paul agreed to give it a shot.
The search began along the snow-covered path, through trees and brush, and into the marsh. Targets under the ice slowed progress—beer cans, rusty metal, and other debris. To speed things up, the officer used a handheld pin-pointer (a small, carrot-shaped detector that vibrates near metal) while Paul swept the area with his detector.
Breaking through thin ice, stomping through cattails, and clearing countless false targets, they worked their way back toward the spot where the victim had been rescued. Then, near the creek bank where the officer had climbed out of the icy water, the pin-pointer vibrated strongly. Pulling apart bent reeds, they found it—the officer’s phone! After 40 hours in the marsh, it was intact, just with a dead battery.
Against all odds, the phone was recovered. It hadn’t been submerged, and now it could be returned to a hero who risked everything to save someone in need. When asked if he’d receive an award for going above and beyond, the officer simply said, “No—it was just another night at work.”
A Big Thank You
To all the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe—thank you. And to Darrin and Paul from The Ring Finders, your determination turned a lost cause into a lost cause into a success story.
Paul – What a great story and so thankful for your determination on this search. I truly thought this phone would be under water/ice and would only be recoverable in the spring. Thank you so much for braving the weather and very harsh conditions to help out this police officer.
Hope to see ya out detecting this spring. :O)
Take Care –
Darrin from theringfinders.com