MPD Officers receive Medal of Valor for pulling boy from frozen pond

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - It is the kind of call no officer wants to receive.

A water emergency where a 4-year-old boy fell through the ice on a frozen pond in North Minneapolis.

But Sgt. Jeremy Depies and Officer Ashley Bergersen didn't hesitate to spring into action.

"Jeremy and I, we both have children around the same age as Eli," Bergersen told FOX 9.

Body camera video shows both of them running into the water to pull the boy, named Eli, out of the pond last November.

"I knew time was a huge mitigating factor in whether or not Eli was going to survive. For me, when we got to Eli, and we pulled him out of the water, I didn't see Eli. I saw my son, Sawyer," said Depies.

First another officer, and then Bergersen performed CPR on the boy, while pleading with him to hang on.

After several minutes, Bergersen carries Eli to an ambulance that has just arrived.

But it wasn't until much later they learned Eli pulled through.

"I just felt a ton of relief. It's like a weight off my shoulders," said Depies.

"I felt amazing. I told myself, ‘I don't know what I would do if he didn't survive because I just saw my little son too,’" said Bergersen.

For their actions that day, Bergersen and Depies received the Minneapolis Police Department's highest honor, the Medal of Valor.

"We don't do this sort of thing for recognition," said Depies.

But they say the greatest reward is knowing they saved Eli's life.

"I'm just happy I was working that day and that I got to the scene as fast like I did and that I acted in the way that I did. We gave him a second chance and that feels good," said Bergersen.