3 New Jersey boys honored for helping save boy who fell through ice

Three New Jersey boys were honored for helping save another boy who fell through an icy pond in January.

EDGEWATER PARK, N.J. - Three New Jersey boys were recognized Tuesday for helping rescue another boy who had fallen through an icy pond in January.

Timothy Graf, 12, said he and his friend were walking on the frozen pond at Roosevelt Park when they heard the ice begin to crack beneath them.

"It was a very cold day, it had been cold for a while, and we were walking on the ice, and we heard cracks," Graf told FOX 29's Shawnette Wilson.

Graf said the ominous cracks finally gave way and his friend fell through the ice. When Graf tried to pull him out, he also fell into the freezing cold water.

Graf managed to climb out and two teen boys who were also on the ice heard the commotion.

"He was panicking, he wasn't screaming or crying, he was just panicking," Michael Marsh said.

Marsh and Tristian Dehn feared that hypothermia could set in and pulled the boy out of the water after about 30 seconds.

"At first you're like ‘oh I got to get these kids out,' there's no 'I'm terrified!'," Dehn said about his initial reaction to helping the boy. "There's really no feeling on the situation until a few minutes after when it's like ‘oh, this could have happened, he could have drowned’ and you're like at least we were there to save him."

The boys were honored for their heroic actions Tuesday by Edgewater Park Township Mayor and the local police department who gifted them a plaque.