Several neighbors and a Summit County deputy teamed up to rescue an unresponsive man from an icy waterway in Coventry Township.
Around 11 p.m. Friday, the Summit County Sheriff's Office received a call that a man was drowning in the 'Iron Channel', part of the East Reservoir in the Portage Lakes area. Authorities said temperatures at the time were about 15 degrees with winds blowing at 20 mph.
Nathan Beam, 24, of Zanesville, fell into the water and neighbors heard his cries for help.
Cody Aldstadt raced from his home with a rope and climbed down the stairs, placing his feet into the freezing channel.
"I have no idea how I did it. The dude is twice my size. I grabbed him with one leg and pulled him up there and bear-hugged him to the side of the channel," Aldstadt said.
Another neighbor, Shawn Huff, heard the commotion and assisted Aldstadt by reaching over the seawall and holding onto Beam, who was no longer responsive.
"He was purple. I mean, I've never seen anyone that color. I actually thought he was dead," Huff said.
Deputy Tim Kensinger was dispatched to the neighborhood on Edgepark Drive and realized three people needed help getting out of the channel-- Beam, Aldstadt and Aldstadt's friend, who was also assisting with the rescue.
"I reached the one guy and picked him up and threw him up on the bank, and I turned around and I grabbed another guy and threw him on the bank," Kensinger said.
The deputy then turned his attention to Huff was was still clinging to Beam.
"I just kept yelling to the deputy, 'I'm losing this guy.' He's like, 'You got him. You're not gonna lose him,'" Huff recalled.
Kensinger and Huff worked together to pull Beam from the water. His body temperature had plummeted to 90.5 degrees.
"I gave him a sternum rub because he was unresponsive and he opened his eyes," Kensinger said.
Beam was taken to Barberton Citizens Hospital with hypothermia, but has since been released.
The rescuers were relieved to hear the victim survived, but don't consider themselves heroes.
"Wouldn't you want someone doing the same thing for you?" I mean, that's all I could think of. I wouldn't want to freeze to death in someone's channel when there's people around to help me," Aldstadt said.
Investigators are not sure why Beam went into the channel, but said alcohol could have played a role and he may have thought the water was frozen.
