N.H. principal saves student from icy river

ROCHESTER, N.H. - An elementary school principal in New Hampshire jumped into a frozen river to save a 10-year-old student who fell through the ice.

Firefighters say that because of Principal Gwen Rhodes' quick action, Andrew Brown was in the Cocheco River for just a few minutes.

He had fallen through the ice Wednesday outside the Gonic School in Rochester.

Rhodes said the boy, who has autism, ran away from a teacher and through the woods behind the school onto the frozen river after a morning break. Both the teacher and Rhodes took off after him and saw him come to a stop on a patch of thin ice.

Rhodes says she was able to get to Andrew and use trees along the riverbank to pull them to safety.

Both treated for hypothermia and some bruises.

[credibility2]

Glad the principal was able to save the careless kid. Parents need to be more responsible in repeatedly educating their kids on the dangers of things like this and start teaching them about responsibility and how their actions should never put in peril another life.

[carcar0]

As it stated in the article, the child is autistic. I'm sure the parents try as much as they can to prepare him for life with people who jump to conclusions regarding their childs actions.

[jmrtsus]

Great thing that the Principal did,but really poor story. Typical sensationalism headline. "dives in frozen river" I bet that hurt when his head cracked through the ice. Come on AP, your writers should be better than this!This was a good story without the phoney lead-in, with it, it demonstrates a lack of editorial overview.