Quick thinker saves life
Stafford student rescues man from plunge into icy lake
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John DeMatties stands next to the “chainsaw tree” at Stafford Technical Center in Rutland. DeMatties, who is a student of the school’s Forestry and Natural Resources program, recently saved a person’s life after the victim plunged through the ice of Lake St. Catherine. Albert J. Marro / Rutland Herald |
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By Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: March 16, 2010
John DeMatties claims he's just like the next guy. He saved the life of a paraplegic man on the ice of Lake St. Catherine earlier this month because, he said, anybody would have done it. DeMatties, an avid ice fisherman from Poultney and student in Stafford's Forestry and Natural Resources program, listened to his gut in what could have been a fatal accident on the ice of Lake St. Catherine earlier this month.
After pulling up perch and pike at the lake's annual fishing derby on March 7, DeMatties, 17, was walking to his shanty shortly before dusk and saw two men plunge through the ice.
"I saw them go in," DeMatties said Monday. "The dad pushed the kid off (the four-wheeler they were driving across the ice) and the kid was yelling for help."
"The dad" fell through the thin ice and was stuck in the water, DeMatties recalled. "Me and the kid pulled him out."
DeMatties still doesn't know who "the dad" and "kid" are, but he does know one thing — that he's being credited with saving a life.
He found out later that the man he helped pull from the water didn't have the use of his legs.
"That's another reason why he was on the four-wheeler," DeMatties said. "It was the only way he could do it."
It can be called being in the right place at the right time.
For DeMatties, who works in a sugar bush and hopes to study forestry and fish biology in college, it wasn't that big of a deal then and it's not now.
A shy, low-key student with a deep voice, DeMatties didn't want recognition for what he did.
But those around him painted a picture of a hardworking, college-bound, down-home kid that did something worth being recognized for.
Mark Skakel, DeMatties' instructor, said he teaches his students about "caring for the other guy," but nothing formal about how to rescue someone from the ice.
"Wilderness first aid and CPR are taught at Stafford … we do teach teamwork," Skakel said.
But, he said, "John comes from a solid family."
Mom Irene DeMatties said, "Hopefully, we raised him to do the right thing."
Pam Green of Green's Sugarhouse where DeMatties works, said, "He's a shy guy, but a heck of a worker."
Peg Boglioni, outreach coordinator at Stafford, said DeMatties really only shared the news with his instructor, but she thought the story was worth telling.
DeMatties said he doesn't care if he ever meets the man he saved.
"No, I'm just satisfied," he said. "I would've wanted someone to pull me out."
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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