A father in Indianapolis died after jumping into a lake to save his 3-year-old daughter.
As the car rolled into the pond, Burgess and 28-year-old Malone went after it. Neither knew how to swim. Malone turned back while Burgess managed to get to the car and pull his daughter out before it submerged. A 30-year-old bystander jumped in and pulled the girl from Burgess’s hands to safety, despite also not knowing how to swim, WTHR reported.
The bystander tried to turn back to get Burgess but wasn’t able to. That bystander also ended up having to be helped out of the water by another bystander. He was taken to the hospital with hypothermia. Others tried to reach Burgess with ropes from the lake’s edge, but with no success. They ended up nearly hypothermic, WTHR reported.
The man’s daughter is in critical but stable condition at Riley Hospital for Children.
“Horrible situation. Luckily, dad did everything he could to get to his daughter,“ said Cpl. Jet Quillen of the Department of Natural Resources, via WTHR. ”And by all witness statements and accounts, he was able to get to her and get her out of the vehicle.”
“The other bystander that was observing this, and saw dad with the daughter on the surface of the water, he stepped into action, and he went out there and retrieved the girl from the father before he went under the water.”
The car was later pulled from the pond, 50 feet from shore in 25-foot-deep water, WTHR reported.
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