After that recent slushy snowfall, I went out to shovel the sidewalk and stepped into a puddle of icy water so deep it ran over my shoe! I let out a gasp from the frigid horror of it. Luckily, I survived but the experience did give me some sympathy for Joe Salmon, 17, of Spirit Lake who Feb. 4, jumped into the freezing water of Lake Okoboji and saved the life of an 83-year-old man and his dog.
Simply saying that Joe Salmon is a hero would be to gloss over the astonishing speed and military-like precision of the rescue. Joe later modestly told the Des Moines Register, “I’ve never done anything like that.” But from watching the drone footage that captured the event, you might have thought he had been practicing for it all week.
In an interview with Fox Weather, Joe said he and his mother had been fishing on the lake and watching snowmobile races when Thomas Lee and his six-year-old dog, Cooper, drove past them under the bridge on their way to his son-in-law’s fishing shack. Joe explained that this is where East Lake and West Lake meet and the current generally prevents the ice from getting very thick. “As soon as he came past me, I looked at my mom and said, ‘He can’t go under there.’”
Joe got ready to dial 911 as he ran towards the Jeep, knowing the thin ice would not hold it. When he saw the front of the vehicle plunge into the lake, he dialed 911. Several others were already coming on the scene. Joe asked one of them for a knife and jumped into the 4-foot-deep water. A football, wrestling and track athlete, the Okoboji High School junior slid through the icy water up to his chest and, finding the doors locked, used the knife to smash through the rear window with a couple of powerful blows.
He climbed through the shattered window, sustaining minor cuts, grabbed the spaniel and tossed it backwards to the shore. He tried to pull Mr. Lee from the driver’s seat but found that his foot was wedged between the seat and the center console. Joe heaved up the console, freed Lee and pulled him out the rear window where another rescuer was waiting to assist him.
After Lee and Cooper were led to safety, Joe, who by this time must have been just about frozen solid, started to leave when his fellow rescuer slipped and fell back into the icy water. Without hesitation, Joe stopped and pulled the man back onto dry land. The whole rescue only took him about five minutes.
Asked how he felt about saving the lives of Lee and Cooper, Joe humbly replied, “I’m happy that he was okay and the dog was okay.” But somehow, during the process, Joe lost both his shoes. As word of the daring rescue flashed around the world as far away as Pakistan, ESPN commentator, Marty Smith volunteered to send Joe a pair of new Jordans.
After the nearby Okoboji Store gave him some dry clothes, Joe Salmon—like the genuine hero he is—like this was all no big deal– went back out on the ice to continue fishing. And he caught two fish.