East Patchogue boy who fell through ice reunites with Suffolk police officers who saved him

An East Patchogue boy who was pulled from a freezing pond on Christmas Day stood safely on dry ground Friday, smiling as he came face-to-face with the police officers who saved his life.

Tayvion, 8 — healthy after falling through ice and winding up chest-deep in the shallow pond at the Heatherwood Lakeside Village apartment complex where he lives — was able to shake hands and thank those who came to his rescue: Fifth Precinct Officers Andrew Tirelli and James Rizzo, and Highway Sgt. Michael Santillo.

The interaction came during a county ceremony commending the response of Tirelli, Rizzo and Santillo to a call that could have ended in tragedy.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine called the rescue a “Christmas miracle” and presented the officers with proclamations.

“All three of these officers fell through the ice. They were all soaked,” Romaine said. “But they knew what their mission was: to make sure that we got this young man home to his mom and to make him safe and sound.”

Tayvion previously told Newsday he was dared by friends to cross the icy pond on foot. He thought the ice was strong enough to hold him, but about halfway across, he fell in. Tayvion’s mother earlier told Newsday he'd been in the pond for about 20 minutes before officers arrived. His mother and the police asked that the family's last name be withheld for privacy reasons.

Police released edited body camera footage showing Tayvion’s rescue. Tirelli and Rizzo, the first to respond to a 1 p.m. call for help, initially tried to go across the ice to get Tayvion, but the ice broke under them, the officers said. They waded into the pond and tried to throw Tayvion a life ring to pull him out, but the boy was unable to grab onto it, the footage showed.

Tayvion yelled for help as the officers tried to calm him down by asking his name, Rizzo said.

Santillo arrived and commando-crawled on the ice toward Tayvion. Once he reached the boy, he, too, fell through the ice, but was able to stand in the pond, picked Tayvion up and carried him out of the pond to an ambulance, according to the footage and police officials.

After being evaluated at NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk in East Patchogue, Tayvion was released in time to be home for Christmas dinner, officials said.

“While this story has a happy ending, far too often the ending can be different,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said. “As the temperatures hover around freezing this time of year, it's important to remember to stay off the ice.”

Tayvion echoed county officials.

“Don’t go out on the ice,” he said.

Santillo said the officers were trained for the rescue and remained calm in the face of emergency.

“Anybody who's in need of help, I'm going to help them, whether I'm working or not,” said Santillo, a father of five. “You know, that's just the personality that these officers have.”

“You don't think — you act. You go and do the rescue. You go in the burning building, you get in the water, and try and help people,” Santillo said.