(Arnolds Park)– For a Spirit Lake man a trip out for dinner Thursday evening turned into an experience he will never forget. Kyle Peterson of Spirit Lake is credited with saving the lives of two people whose ATV they were riding went through the ice on East Lake Okoboji. In an interview with KUOO news, Peterson, an avid outdoorsman who works at Pure Fishing, says he had just sat down at the table and was looking out onto the lake when he saw it happen…
“We got sat down, all the people started arriving, and I see two sets of headlights going across the middle of East Lake and I kind of got like ooh, I thought someone was saying something about open water, and just as I said that I could see headlights from the front ATV basically point toward the sky, they turned to the left, and were gone. The UTV was gone in a matter of 20 seconds I would say and I was like ooh. Normally they bust through and they stay awhile. I was like holy cow!”
Peterson says he instantly got up and ran outside onto the lake…
“I knew that if I fell through I could probably get out just fine, but I knew I couldn’t not try or hear on the news that someone had died and there was something I could have done about it. So against my wife’s call and mine, I just took off across the ice. I had to jump from the stairs going out onto the ice and I started running. About 10 minutes into the sprint across the lake, because it was out in the middle, I could start to hear the lady screaming like I can’t hold on any more, I can’t hold on anymore, and the other people that were, now that I’ve seen the opening, they were like 50 yards away across open water, were telling them like hold on, they’re coming.”
Peterson explains what he saw once he got closer to the scene…
“I could see two heads. The man who was about 20 yards away from the female, he had his cavity out of the water a little bit more, he had his elbows up on the ice where I could tell he was probably okay for a little bit longer. The woman, she was just holding on by her fingertips and just her head was sticking out. I tried to instruct her to kick her feet and get level. She’s like I can’t move my legs, I can’t do anything. So I took my jacket off, made a perfect little pitch right to her, and she was able to grip her hands onto it. I kind of like did this controlled lean, I was wearing like slippers basically, and you know there’s no traction, it’s wet ice, pure glaze ice, so I just kind of leaned and fell and just scooted and she popped up to her elbows and she got to her belly and then I drug her all the way back. I told her to stay there. And as I made my way toward the man, the ice was much worse, it was more toward the impact area. It was like three to five inches of honeycomb and I could see the UTV down about 20 feet and it like, it actually helped me because it was a glow in the ice so I could make my way and navigate out to him on a good path. I got out to him, I flipped my jacket, and same thing, I just kind of pulled and got him out.”
Peterson says he used his cell phone to alert the Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Rescue airboat which then arrived and transported them to shore where an ambulance was standing by. They were taken to Lakes Regional Healthcare where they were checked over further and released.
Peterson says he had the opportunity Saturday evening to actually meet the couple who are from the Sioux Falls area…
“We went to Snapper’s and got to exchange stories on their side and my side, big hugs and high-fives and we even made plans every year for Winter Games to actually have a meal together.”
Peterson says it was one of those cases to where he just happened to be at the right place at the right time…
“I was glad I was in the situation to help out. Listen to your gut if that situation occurs to anyone else. Play it smart and safe. There’s no such thing as safe ice. You hear that every single time. I can’t believe that my angle from Waterfront, you know that seam line was very jagged and open. It’s not a straight line. I didn’t have a light on me, I was running through the dark, that God saved me and I didn’t like go into the crease myself. I came right up to the perfect edge at the perfect time and I was able to get them out of there, so. I really thank the rescue team. Those guys are the heroes. They put themselves in that situation every single time. I just had to do it once.”
Peterson says he didn’t get much sleep Thursday night and stayed kind of low through the day Friday to process what all had taken place.
Hear our complete interview with Kyle here:
(Photo: Kyle Peterson, left, and the couple he rescued)(Photo courtesy Kyle Peterson)
