A Michigan conservation officer has been honored for rescuing a 10-year-old boy who left his Upper Peninsula home in February with no shoes, hat or gloves.
Patrick Hartsig found the boy on the ice-covered Little Bay de Noc, a mile from shore in Delta County. The temperature was below 20 degrees.
Hartsig put his boots and snowmobile helmet on the special-needs boy before taking him to the state police post in Gladstone.
He received a lifesaving award from the Department of Natural Resources at a public meeting Thursday in Houghton. Hartsig is a Macomb County native who has been a conservation officer for two years.
Gary Hagler, chief of the DNR's law enforcement division, praised Hartsig, saying it was a "dangerous situation that could have ended tragically."
