Lincoln Police officer recounts rescuing drowning woman in Holmes Lake
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A Lincoln officer rescued a woman who capsized while kayaking at Holmes Lake on Sunday.
Around 6 p.m., people walking around Holmes Lake heard yelling.
It was a woman screaming for help. She had tipped her kayak over and wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
Lincoln Police were called, but it took awhile before anyone arrived to help.
Officer Pierce Krouse was one of the first to the scene. He said it was hard to find the woman in the water.
“It was pitch black, and the kayak was kind of a darker color, so it was super hard to see it,” Krouse said. “It kind of just looked like a stick floating.”
The woman had tipped over near the south shore and wasn’t able to get to safety.
The current and winds kept pushing her farther out.
By the time Krouse found her, she had been calling for help for about half an hour.
Even though Lincoln Fire & Rescue was on the way, Krouse jumped in.
“The whole point of the job is just to help people as much as possible,” he said. “And I don’t think I could have just stood on the shore and waited for LFR – the rescue team – to get here, knowing that she had been in there for so long.”
She was about 20 to 30 yards from the shore, and Krouse swam out to save her.
He said when he reached her, he grabbed her by the sweatshirt and laid her over the kayak to push them back to shore.
Krouse said he’s never had any water rescue training, so he had to use his instincts.
He was able to safely get the woman out of the water. She was treated by medics at the scene.
“It was just a relief when she got there,” Krouse said. “She was a little bit shaken up, understandably. But thankfully, she was OK.”
WATER RESCUE: Please help us thank Officer Pierce Krouse for his efforts in rescuing a woman from the water in Holmes Lake last night!
Read what happened below. Great job, Officer Krouse! #LPD #LNK #WaterRescue (1/4) pic.twitter.com/HPO98PYEQT
— Lincoln Police (@Lincoln_Police) November 6, 2023
After the ordeal, Krouse went home, showered, changed into dry clothes and then went back to work after he was cleared by the hospital.
Krouse is a member of the Lincoln Police Department’s southeast team and has been with LPD since December 2022.
He said his supervisor, Sgt. Tu Tran, is part of the reason he knew what to do and why he went back to work so soon after.
Tran rescued a man from a pond in September 2022 and a woman from a pond in February.
“I was trying to come for his throne,” he said. “You’ve got to get back out there in case another one happens.”
