I Love Life: Sioux Falls Man Honored For Water Rescue Of Brothers

Here's a story about a Real Hero!

A Sioux Falls man was honored on Thursday by the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office for rescuing two brothers---25-year-old Andy Morris and 17-year-old Brayden Nielsen.

Captain Mike Walsh of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's explains.

"Andy and Brayden were training a dog to retrieve at Scotts Slough near Hartford, South Dakota. Brayden entered the water to retrieve a plastic dummy that the dog did not retrieve and got to far in the water and began to struggle to stay afloat. Andy then entered the water to assist Brayden and got into trouble himself. Mike Voigt was fishing off the dock and saw both subjects starting to drown."

That's when Mike Voigt took charge!

"I ran over and of course stripped down to my shorts. Luckily no one was around. I went out and wanted to help the person that could swim. Andy could swim. He's the one that swam out to get the training dummy. The dog went with him and came back in. I saw the trouble he was in and I grabbed his arm. Andy helped me get him in. At the time, we were totally unaware that Brayden couldn't swim."

Mike proceeded to rescue Andy's brother and pulled him to shore.

"I took a hold of him and he got a hold of me. He did well. I just got real firm with him. I grabbed his swim trunks---held onto him. We just turned around."

Andy and Brayden were taken to the hospital and cleared on the same day.

Mike Voigt was presented with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office Civilian Service award for his life saving actions! An honor well earned!