The alert, heroic actions of this southwest Illinois police officer saved two lives

A police officer’s quick thinking and swimming ability recently helped rescue two senior citizens from Silver Lake, according to Highland Police.

Officer Rob Horner was parked near Illinois 143 at about 2 p.m. Sept. 8 when a driver flagged him down, warning him he’d been in a capsized boat in the lake when driving over the spillway.

Horner said he drove out to spillway and saw it for himself: An upside-down boat with two people hanging onto the side. Debris had floated away from the accident, including at least one life jacket.

“It was a smaller boat, not a large fishing boat, and ultimately we found out it was a sailboat and the sail was underwater,” Horner said.

The wind was at least 20 mph that day, and the men clinging to the boat could not hear him calling to them, Horner said. One was trying to climb up onto the boat and kept falling back into the water.

So after calling in to the dispatcher for the rescue team and EMS, Horner stripped off his uniform “down to the underwear” and dove into the water.

“That was just instinct,” he said. “At that point I didn’t feel there were any other options. There was no other means of rescue on the scene and I didn’t know the extent of any injuries or the potential for drowning.”

It wasn’t a short swim — interim Highland Police Chief Charles Becherer estimated it at about 150 yards.

“The water was rough that day, and he was swimming against the waves and the wind,” he said.

Horner said while he had done some swimming as a kid, the only swimming he’d done as an adult was playing with his kids in an aboveground pool. He used the backstroke intentionally to conserve energy, but still termed it “exhausting.”

The two fishermen were 76 and 83 years old, respectively, and one had lost his lifejacket and had his leg tangled up in a rope. Horner dove underwater to get the leg freed, and eventually they got the boat flipped and the men back into it.

Meanwhile, paramedic Martin Carlen had arrived and swam out to join them, using a backboard as a flotation device. They were able to guide the boat to shore.

“We’re very proud of (Horner),” Becherer said. “It’s one of those incidents where you have to make a split-second decision: do I go in or don’t I? Swimming that far is very dangerous, but without hesitation, Rob decided, ‘I’m going in.’”

Both fishermen were checked out at the scene and declined further medical treatment. Becherer did not have their identification, but said they were “pretty embarrassed.”

The cause of the accident was determined to be environmental — it was a small sailboat and the wind was high that day.

This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 12:45 PM.