Middletown Police Officer Honored For Saving Dog From Creek

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown police officer Nick Manochio was recognized by the Township Committee Monday night as the officer who jumped into a frozen creek in Lincroft on the night of Jan. 3 and heroically saved a dog that had fallen through the ice.

Manochio received a Life-Saving Award from Middletown Mayor Stephanie Murray and was publicly thanked by the Sullivan family for saving their dog, Brody.

The night this happened, Wednesday, Jan. 3, Patch interviewed an eyewitness to the dramatic rescue: Stephen Triano was outside his home on Leedsville Drive in Lincroft when he heard howling coming from the creek that runs behind his house.

He ran down the hill to the creek and that's when he saw Brody, an older dog, floundering in the swiftly moving creek, which was partially frozen. The creek is mostly shallow, but that particular spot is a few feet deep.

"It really sounded like a cry for help," said Triano, who said he's often been nervous a dog or kid would tumble into the creek.

The dog's owner was nearby and she had already called 911. Triano said he watched as Patrolman Manochio immediately jumped into the frozen creek and pulled the dog out.

Both officer and dog were OK.

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

Tragically, another dog in Middletown was not so lucky this January: An older beagle fell into a frozen pond Thursday, Jan. 11 on Melrose Terrace in Middletown. The dog's owner called 911 but sadly, Middletown police and volunteer firefighters were unable to retrieve the dog in time. The animal drowned.

"The dog's footprints stopped at the pond and it appears as though the dog became submerged under the ice," Middletown police Lt. Paul Bailey told Patch the day the dog died.

Children from the Sullivan family attended Monday night's ceremony and presented the officer with a homemade card which read "Thank You Officer Manochio for saving my dog Brody."

Patrolman Manochio, 31, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and lives in Manalapan. Coincidentally, he's the same officer who, along with Corporal Ryan Riffert, helped a Middletown woman deliver her baby in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn on Rt. 35 last January, 2017. Read: Middletown Police Deliver Baby in Parking Lot

Photos provided to Patch by the Middletown Police Dept.