A Louisville Middle School eighth-grader who left school because he was sick stopped on the way home to save a life.
Jared Vigil, 14, was passing a frozen lake in Cottonwood Park when he heard Connie Ostwald screaming for help, his school said in a news release.
Ostwald had gone through the ice when she tried to rescue Willow, her Labrador retriever, who had fallen through the ice moments before.
Willow was able to climb out of the lake, but Ostwald couldn’t and she began to call for help.
Vigil called 911 on his cell phone and then walked out onto thicker ice near the lake’s shore and reached out to the woman, pulling her out with his backpack.
“Character gets tested everyday. In a crisis situation like this, for Jared to respond so perfectly is a testament to his character and courage,” Ginny Vidulich, the school’s assistant principal, said in a statement.
Vigil will be honored at a school assembly at the end of the school day tomorrow. He will also be honored Tuesday night at the Boulder Valley Board of Education when he will be named to the Superintendent’s Honor Roll.
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
