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Woman Rescued From Cold Water in Orland Park: Samaritans Brave Chill After Car Lands in Retention Pond

Posted on: Saturday, 4 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Tom Rybarczyk, Chicago Tribune

Feb. 4--Dan O'Halloran watched the white car swerve off the road into an Orland Township retention pond Friday morning and wanted to help, not thinking about the bone-chilling water.

The Homer Glen man watched part-time Orland Park police Officer Bill Duggan struggle to rescue the woman from her car shortly after 7:30 a.m.

"Bill got on top of the hood and held her head up," said O'Halloran, 42. "That's when he called to me, 'You got to help.'"

Those two, plus George Cavelle of Orland Park, successfully rescued the 47-year-old Orland Park resident as her car sank to a depth at which only the roof was visible.

She was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet where she was listed in fair condition Friday, said Orland Fire Protection District Battalion Chief William Bonnar.

"It was mind-numbing cold," said O'Halloran, who had been taking his kids to school. "Within seconds, I couldn't feel my hands. It was ... beyond belief."

Police and fire officials said they did not know what caused the woman to drive erratically or swerve off the roadway and into the pond in the 16500 block of Will-Cook Road. Because the incident occurred on the border of the Homer and Orland fire districts, firefighters from both areas responded, Bonnar said. Before they could reach the scene, Duggan grabbed a hammer from a motorist stopped along the road and jumped in the water, O'Halloran said.

O'Halloran, who spent about five minutes in the water, and Cavelle pulled the woman out the driver's side of the car as Duggan held her head. They struggled for some time to free her from her seatbelt.

"Looking at Bill's eyes, you knew you had to do something now," O'Halloran said. "After the initial shock [of the water], it was get to her and get her out as fast as you can."

The car had no other passengers. Paramedics checked out the three rescuers and released them.

trybarczyk@tribune.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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