Man heard cries of teen who had fallen in icy pond—he grabbed his jump ropes to save him from freezing to death

In times of crisis, quick actions turn into life-saving decisions for many people. Professional jump-roper athlete David Fisher knew this and because of it, he was able to rescue a teen with the only thing he had at his disposal — a jumping rope, according to CBC. The incident is from December 2024, when the water bodies in the Westfield area of Indiana had frozen up due to the extremely low temperature. Fisher, 61, was out with his 19-year-old son, Felix, on a cold day in mid-December. That was when Felix heard someone screaming close by.

Soon, Fisher arrived at a partially frozen pond across the street, where a woman and her teenage son were walking their dog. The dog had started chasing after some geese and ended up slipping into the icy water. Felix was the first one to rescue the dog but there was bigger trouble they had to deal with. Felix ran to his dad to tell him that an 18-year-old boy had gone out on the ice after the dog and he fell into the water as well. "That's when I grabbed the ropes and we both headed for the ice," Fisher recalled to the outlet. 

By the time the father-son duo made it across the street, the dog had successfully swam to the shore but the teen boy was still struggling in the water. Felix dialed 911 and Fisher took his jump ropes and started making his way to the boy. "I knew exactly, you know, the distance I needed to be away from him to get him to the other end of the rope," he described. "So, when I finally arrived at that point, I flung him the rope and he moved a little bit to get to it and then grabbed onto it." Fisher also left the second rope on the shore just in case he fell into the icy water and needed rescuing as well.

"It had all happened pretty quick, but it kind of seemed like it was in slow motion," Fisher said, recalling how they managed to pull the young man out of the water. After they pulled the teenager out to safety, the Fishers took the family and dog back to their house and gave the boy some warm and dry clothes, waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Fisher, who has earned the stage name "The Rope Warrior," received a Lifesaving Citizen Award from Westfield Mayor Scott Willis and Fire Chief Rob Gaylor.

"I've always known that Westfield is filled with brave, kind-hearted people, but what David and Felix did is absolutely remarkable," Willis said in a written statement that was posted on Facebook. "Their courageous actions are the definition of what it looks like to care for your neighbor. We are proud to honor them with this well-deserved award." The teen and his mom also expressed their gratitude at the award ceremony.

"I'm just very thankful that my son was outside because I'm not sure anybody else would have heard anything," Fisher added. "And that, you know, I happened to have the perfect tool for getting him out of the water and the background to be able to use it." "I've always had these crazy scenarios of how a rope could be used to defend or save," Fisher, who had written fiction books about a rope-skipping superhero, told As It Happens' host, Nil Kӧksal, per the outlet. "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think something like that would actually happen — but it did." Fisher has been a three-time world record jumping rope champion, per PEOPLE.