When Meiser arrived, the octogenarian was unresponsive and his daughter, in her 60s, also was in the water.
“The woman, though, was just not able to keep him up out of the water and get him out of the pond,” said Meister, who added he thought the woman may have fallen in trying to rescue her father.
The pond was deep, and Meister said he couldn’t see the bottom. He reached the victims from the patio, by stepping onto a stone along the steep bank.
“I was able to get him out of the pond. Fortunately, he was breathing and had a pulse. When I went to check on the woman that was in the pond, she was then unresponsive. I was able to get her out of the pond,” Meister said.
Both victims were breathing and had a pulse, but the man was still unresponsive when he was taken by Yellow Springs medics to Greene Memorial Hospital. The woman regained consciousness and was taken by Xenia medics to the same hospital. The father and daughter are expected to be OK, the officer said.
Meister said it’s not clear how the man, who has health problems, ended up in the pond. However, his daughter saw him fall or slip and was able to call 911 for help. He believed both were exhausted trying to tread water.
The police officer — who also is a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician — said he’s not a hero, but was just doing his job today.
“I’m just glad I was able to be here to help out these two residents of our village,” Meister said.
FIRST REPORT
A police officer today pulled two people, including an octogenarian, from a backyard pond.
Police and medics were called around 11 a.m. to a report of an elderly man and woman who had fallen in a backyard pond in the 100 block of West North College.
The man, approximately 80, was unresponsive in the pond, being held above water by his daughter, according to Yellow Springs police Chief David Hale.
Officer David Meister, who was the first on scene, pulled the man from the water. Then, he rescued the woman, who also had become unresponsive, Hale said.
The man and woman were taken to Greene Memorial Hospital. Their names and conditions were not immediately available.