A wheelchair-bound 81-year-old who fell into a lake while walking his dog was in danger of drowning until his dog became his guardian angel. Barking loudly, she alerted passersby, who helped get the elderly man out from the lake in the nick of time.
Florida resident Harry Smith was walking his 9-year-old beagle-hound mix, Sarah Jane, by a Port St. Lucie lake near his Southwest Twig Avenue home when his electric wheelchair lost traction with the ground. He slipped down the bank in his chair, and into the water.
The bystanders—neighbors Edward Suhling, 58, and Aby “Jacob” Chacko, 49—rushed over, flagging down nearby PSLPD Officer Adam Doty, who was driving his patrol vehicle on Airoso Blvd. When they arrived at the lake, Smith was up to his neck in water.
Suhling added, “You could just see it in his face; he thought he was dying.”
According to Suhling, Sarah Jane was splashing in the water when he and Chacko reached the lake. Immediately, Suhling jumped into the water; his neighbor grabbed Smith’s arms while Suhling grabbed his legs, and with Doty’s help, they winched him up and out of the water.
Smith, received medical attention on-site and was declared fit enough to return home. The police credited the dog and the two bystanders for helping save the elderly man’s life that day.
While Smith had survived his ordeal unharmed, his electric wheelchair sustained water damage. Thus, Officer Doty and St. Lucie County Fire District volunteered to push him back home.
However, as Smith’s story spread on social media, so did public support.
In photos, a happy Smith sits proudly in his new chair with a happy, spruced-up Sarah Jane by his side.
