Nov. 25, 2024 2:30p
(WGTD)---A couple of Kenosha County Sheriff’s deputies have won the nation’s top life-saving award for a dicey Lake Michigan rescue.
Deputies Kelsey Schwuchow and Christopher Bischoff were at Simmons Island beach in August of 2023 when two pre-teen sisters got in trouble in high waves and strong currents. Their step-mother, who went in to ostensibly save them, got swept away as well.
The deputies jumped in.
Bischoff grabbed one panicked child, and actually had to hold her above his head while he submerged himself to walk on the lake bottom against the current. At one point, Bischoff, starting to swallow water, and had to let go. He regained control, and was able to get her to shore.
Schwuchow also started to swallow water as she eventually got the second child and the step-mother to safety.
Kenosha County Sheriff Dave Zoerner presided over a ceremony last week in which the deputies were awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
At the ceremony, Bischoff modestly played down his actions. "There are countless men and women who go out and do this on a daily basis," he said. "The next time you see a cop thank them for what they do."
Since its inception in 1904, the Carnegie commission has awarded nearly $45 million in grants to more than 10,000 awardees or their survivors.
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