Dog Falls Into Frozen Middletown Creek, Rescued By Police

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — As the rest of New Jersey was preparing for the impending snowstorm, Stephen Triano was outside his house in Lincroft Wednesday night, getting ready to grill some steaks on his charcoal grill.

That's when he heard the howling. It was coming from the creek that runs behind his house on Leedsville Drive.

"I was cooking steak outside and was like, 'Holy crap, I hear a dog howling," Triano, 53, told Patch. "I thought something really doesn't sound right with that guy. It really sounded like a cry for help."

He grabbed his flashlight and ran down the hill to the creek, still wearing his house slippers. That's when he saw an older, what appeared to be mixed-breed floundering in the partially frozen creek water.

Triano said the creek is usually very shallow, about a foot deep, but in that particular area where the dog fell the creek is actually several feet deep. The creek was half frozen over with ice, but water was still flowing under it. He said he's actually been nervous a child or dog would fall into that deep part of the creek.

A woman was there, who he assumes is the dog's owner, and a young-looking Middletown police officer; Triano did not catch his name. The officer immediately jumped into the frozen creek and pulled the pooch out. The woman rushed the dog to her car to immediately warm the animal up.

"I mean, thank God that cop was there, or else that dog would have been a Popsicle," he said.

When asked, Triano said he "definitely" would have jumped in if the officer didn't. Kids and dogs wandering out onto the ice is a big concern for police in this part of Monmouth County every winter, particularly in the Belford section and along the Navesink: Keep Kids And Dogs Off Ice, Atlantic Highlands Police Warn

Image via Pixabay