Vermont officer recalls moment she saved eight-year-old from frozen pond

A police officer recalled the moment she saved an eight-year-old girl who fell into a frozen pond in Cambridge, Vermont.

Bodycam footage from 17 December 2023 showed Vermont State Trooper Michelle Archer wading into the freezing water after she received a call of a possibly deceased child in the pond.

“I don’t know if it was training, or instinct, or probably a little bit of both. Something kicked in where I didn’t think, I just took action,” Trooper Archer said in a video released on 18 January.

She was able to pull the child to shore, when Trooper Keith Cote arrived and rushed her to an ambulance on the scene and was immediately taken to hospital.

She made a full recovery and returned home, according to officials.