'He was screaming for help': Teen saves 2 kids who fell through thin ice at Bucks County lake
YARDLEY, Pa. - A high school sophomore is being called a hero. He was skating on a Bucks County pond when he saw another kid fall through the ice.
Cory Hemberger and his friend Shawn were playing pond hockey on Lake Afton, in Yardley, Sunday. Cory saw a 13-year-old boy, who was playing with a basketball, fall through thin ice.
"He was screaming for help and his other friend tried to help him and then he fell in with him," 16-year-old Cory explained.
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Cory says instinct kicked in. He knew he had to help and knew a safe spot where the ice was thicker.
"So, I skated up, reached out my stick and told them to grab onto it and I pulled them out, one by one," Cory described the scene.
"Were you at all scared you might end up going in?" FOX 29’s Dawn Timmeney asked.
"Yeah, but I wasn’t thinking about that at the moment," Cory replied.
Shawn’s dad, Timothy Miller, was parked feet away and saw the whole thing unfold, making a b-line for the lake.
"On the phone with 911 as I was running down there. Cory was already out on the ice with his stick out," Miller explained.
Paramedics quickly arrived and, fortunately, everyone was safe and out of the water. Ironically, Cory, Shawn and his dad were just about to head home when it all happened.
"If we would have left five minutes earlier, it might have been a different story," Miller added.
Cory’s mom says she couldn’t be prouder. "He just has no fear, but a great heart. I wasn’t surprised that he did it," Lisa Hemberger said.
Word of Cory’s heroics quickly spread, but the teen is pretty humble about it all.
"Makes me feel good because if I was in that situation, I would want someone to help me out," Cory remarked.
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