Jason Michael Schappert saved Robert S. Hughes from drowning, Lakeville, Massachusetts, February 11, 2007. While riding an all-terrain vehicle on frozen-over Long Pond, Hughes, 51, entered a section of open water at a point about a quarter-mile from the closer bank. His vehicle sank in the 12-foot-deep water, and Hughes tried without success to climb back onto the ice, which was thin there. While on the ice in the general vicinity with friends, Schappert, 18, college student, witnessed the accident. Taking a camera case with him, he walked toward the open water, and then, near it, he lay on the ice to distribute his weight and moved toward Hughes. He threw the strap of the case to Hughes and, requiring repeated attempts, pulled him atop the ice, which by then was bowing into the water. Schappert moved Hughes back to thicker ice, where, joined by his friends, he provided him articles of dry clothes and then aided him back to the bank. Hughes suffered a sore shoulder and was short of breath. He was given hospital treatment, and he recovered.
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