Body Cam Footage Released Of Woman Being Rescued In Black Rock

In many cases, if you put yourself in danger, you're putting a first responder in danger because they're going to do what they can to save you.

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That was the case on Monday as police had to perform a rescue operation to retrieve a woman who had fallen into the water near the Bird Island pier in Black Rock.

The woman claims that they were simply going for a walk but then her sister slipped on the ice.  When she went to go and grab her, she then fell in the water and couldn't get out.

Police released body cam footage of the rescue and it starts as an officer is getting a rope from his trunk and then running it over to where the rescue was taking place.  You can hear the woman's concern that she was going to get scraped up after the officer said he was going to pull her out.  The officer then points out that it's a much better option than drowning in the water.

While it doesn't look horribly life-threatening because she was only waist deep, when someone is stuck in freezing cold water and cannot get out, every second can count. Hypothermia can set in pretty fast. You can see that these officers worked quickly to get her out as quickly as possible.

This doesn't look like a case of someone trying to put anyone in danger.  It's just fortunate that no one was hurt.

This is a good reminder that even though ice might look safe to walk out on, it can become very dangerous very quickly. There isn't a lot of ice on Lake Erie this year and what is there, isn't safe to be on.  Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia is reminding people that all ice should be considered unsafe.