Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique presented the Carnegie Medal to police officer Jared Moore at a Sept. 10 presentation at the Ontario Provincial Police annual awards ceremony.
Moore was awarded in March after his Feb. 24, 2024, rescue of two people from drowning in icy water in Killaloe, Ontario.
In a remote area, Janice Junop, 55, and Marvin Junop, 57, were riding snowmobiles across Round Lake when Janice attempted to cross an area of open water and her snowmobile sank to the bottom. Having made it across the opening first, Marvin turned around to go back to help her. Jared Moore, 25, was off-duty and with his mother walking on a solid part of the lake about a half mile away when they saw Janice’s vehicle plunge into the water.
His mother ran to the family cottage on the shore to find a rope, while Moore sprinted toward the open water. Moore and Marvin shouted to Janice to swim to the edge of the ice. While standing on ice no more than 3 inches thick, they tossed a rope retrieved from Marvin’s snowmobile. Janice was too cold to grab the rope. Marvin then jumped into the open water, swam to Janice, and pushed her toward the edge. While Marvin pushed Janice from behind, Moore grabbed her arms and pulled her part of the way out, then grabbed her legs to pull her the rest of the way out. Moore then returned to the edge of the ice and pulled out Marvin. Janice was treated at a hospital and suffered from hypothermia, but she recovered. Marvin and Moore were not injured during the incident.
Back in April, OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson spoke about Moore’s bravery and his ability to act under such circumstances.
“Normally when you do cold water rescues, you’re wearing a dry suit and usually we leave that to the rescue professionals, the firefighters, some of our members of our SAVE team (Snow-Vehicle, All-Terrain Vehicle and Vessel Enforcement) They have cold water rescue. They’ve done this before. They know what to do. But not everyone does, even OPP members. So there was no way for him to know he too wouldn’t fall through the ice… He did all the right things, and this worked out for the best for everyone.”