Family helps rescue man with prosthetic leg from drowning in nearby lake

The Krause family worked together to pull a man with a prosthetic leg to safety.

ByABC News
July 20, 2017, 6:28 AM

— -- One man’s day of fishing on a calm lake turned into a rocky situation when he fell overboard, until a nearby family lept into action.

The Doyleston Police Department in Wayne County, Ohio, reported a man was fishing in Dohner Lake in a small boat when he accidentally fell out of the boat.

Adam Shannon, 45, told officials he went to pull up the anchor of his small boat and a portion of the old seat broke off, causing him to fall into the water.

Shannon, who wears a prosthetic because he lost his leg when a drunk driver hit him on his motorcycle last year, found himself struggling to stay afloat in the 18-foot-deep water.

He attempted to dial 9-1-1 from his cell phone, which fell into the water with him, and set it on the side of the boat. Shannon was unsure if his call was successful, but it was. Police dispatchers were able to triangulate his location and send out assistance.

In the midst of his struggle to stay afloat, a nearby family heard Shannon's calls for help from their backyard deck.

"I hear this yelling out on the lake," Emily Krause, 14, told officials. "I was listening to what they were saying and I heard, 'Somebody help me,'" the alert teen added. "So I ran inside and grabbed the binoculars."

Emily Krause told her family she thought someone needed help and spotted Shannon as her brother, Matthew, and father, Jeffery, rushed to get their own boat back in the water to reach him.

"I heard a voice behind me, never saw them coming, say 'Hey buddy we’re coming, we're going to help you,'" Shannon recalled.

Matthew Krause, an eagle scout, said they gave Shannon a life jacket and had him grab onto the side of their boat as they towed him ashore. "It just worked out real well," he said. "I just kind of knew to give him a life jacket and he held on."

When they reached the shore, Shannon was assisted onto the dock and assessed by Wayne County deputies.

Shannon said he was tired and doesn't believe he would have lasted out there alone much longer. "Based on the fact that I had never tried to swim with my prosthetic [leg] and it wasn’t doing me any good anyways," Shannon said emotionally, "there's a good chance I wouldn’t be standing here talking if all the people involved didn’t do what they did," he told officials.