NH School Principal Dives In River To Rescue Boy

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- An elementary school principal in New Hampshire jumped into a frozen river to save a 10-year-old student who fell through the ice.

Firefighters say that because of Principal Gwen Rhodes' quick action, Andrew Brown was in the Cocheco River for just a few minutes.

He had fallen through the ice Wednesday outside the Gonic School in Rochester.

Rhodes said the boy, who has autism, ran away from a teacher and through the woods behind the school onto the frozen river after a morning break. Both the teacher and Rhodes took off after him and saw him come to a stop on a patch of thin ice.

Rhodes says she was able to get to Andrew and use trees along the riverbank to pull them to safety.

Both treated for hypothermia and some bruises.

Comments

[montanasian]

09:58 PM on 01/30/2012

This is the type of news I am looking for to offset the other bad news in education.

[Nonewsgoodnews]

09:31 PM on 01/30/2012

Keep this GoodNews section up Huff. Love them

[hopein2012]

08:14 PM on 01/28/2012

a true hero. i love these good news stories. we need more!

[EliSaMi]

06:44 PM on 01/28/2012

Hero (previous definition) : Ordinary person doing extaordinary things.
Hero (present definition): Principal Rhodes.

[hopein2012]

08:14 PM on 01/28/2012

nice!

[SallySassalot]

03:49 PM on 01/28/2012

A PrinciPAL to be sure. Great story! ~♪

[DianaMarceilia]

02:45 PM on 01/28/2012

Awww BRAVO!!!!!!!! I love this

[Christina Goding]

01:02 PM on 01/28/2012

Having been around many Autistic (and yes, having Autism is the same as being Autistic) children AND adults, I know exactly how easy it is for them to wander off, get lost, get into things they shouldn't. It doesn't matter how close of an eye you keep on them, sometimes these kids have what seem like super powers to run away or disappear and anything can happen. If the child was only in the water for 10 minutes or less then there was very little chance of death there. Hypothermia takes several minutes to settle in and if people died at impact of freezing cold water, then there wouldn't be special events where people did crazy stuff in freezing cold water because obviously, that'd be committing suicide. I say bravo to the teacher. Someone else's life was more important than her own...and that is a hero, big or small. Common sense says to not jump into freezing cold water, but a hero will do it anyway because they value life. I am glad that my life is not in the hands of someone who would rather let me die in freezing cold water than to jump in because of "good sense". We need more teachers, parents, friends, relatives, leaders like this.

[karenrmm]

12:42 PM on 01/28/2012

We throw around the word "hero" (think sports figure, movie star, etc.) way too often but here is an example of real heroism! Way to go!!!

[wendy82551]

11:31 AM on 01/28/2012

I'm not going to talk about the principal, because she is obviously awesome, and the child's parents will eternally be grateful to her, I'm sure. I am baffled by some of the comments here--that the water couldn't be freezing (it was under ice; how much more "freezing" does water get?), or it wasn't really deep, or it was Darwinism at work. I guess when you're on the internet, it's easy enough to throw common compassion and decency to the wind, but I think it's time we all stopped playing nasty with this valuable communication tool. Ask yourself how you would feel if your mother saw your post. Just sayin'.

[rivercathollow]

01:33 PM on 01/28/2012

Well said, thank you.

[tangenjill]

11:28 AM on 01/28/2012

Right on!

[Hatima Transport]

10:19 AM on 01/28/2012

And TX votes to shut down 11 schools

[karenrmm]

12:39 PM on 01/28/2012

And, pray tell, what does that have to do with this story?

[PTAOfficerforObama]

09:25 AM on 01/28/2012

Yay Gwen Rhodes! What a hero!

[abbienormal]

09:21 AM on 01/28/2012

If he dove into freezing water he would have died. Another overly dramatic and incorrect headline.

[Pat W]

11:46 AM on 01/28/2012

OK, maybe it wasn't "freezing" but give me a break. It still would have killed the kid.

[Steve LeRoy Moore]

12:02 PM on 01/28/2012

Abnormal, guess you never have heard of the polar club that every new years dives into frezzing water, yeah if you stay in it you don't have long, but quick reaction of a wonderful person saved the kids life,

[abbienormal]

12:12 PM on 01/28/2012

No one with any sense would dive into any water to save a person. First rule of life saving, you jump in order to keep an eye on the victim. In fact this person did jump.

No question that this was a heroic thing for the man to do.

I am criticizing the headline only.

[ausmth]

08:58 AM on 01/28/2012

I love NH! Great people and places to see and fish. Great school principals too. Water in the winter is a dangerous place to be.

[SallySassalot]

03:50 PM on 01/28/2012

I grew up in NH. GREAT state GREAT people!

[ausmth]

03:56 PM on 01/28/2012

I was sad when the "Old Man" fell. I caught some great brookies in Profile Lake!

[hopein2012]

08:17 PM on 01/28/2012

definitely a great place to visit. so much to see and do.

[Digeeedad]

08:51 AM on 01/28/2012

KeyopsBack... your post seems to indicate that some people do in fact appear to not have kept up with the evolutionary advances of the human race. Ridiculing a terrifying and life threatening moment in the life of a 10 year old child, who has an ever more common and often debilitating condition is bad enough..... not even knowing how to spell the name of the principle, to which you were alluding, hilariously illustrates it's existence!

[CheeryGirl]

09:23 AM on 01/28/2012

Well said Digeeedad, but to you both....it's princiPAL, not principle. To KeyopsBack...let's hope Karma isn't keeping close track of you today. Wow. How insensitive and tacky of you. Apparently you haven't EVOLVED into a caring human being.

[Digeeedad]

12:59 PM on 01/28/2012

Oooooops!!!! cheeks red!!!! ;-)))