Bus driver saves man from drowning in lake

LAKE OGALLALA, NE – A bus driver is a hero after he saved a man from drowning in Lake Ogallala.

The bus driver for Alliance Public Schools, Ross Herstedt, was setting up camp near the Kingsley Dam spillway when he heard someone yelling for help. Herstedt told Nebraska Central News (NCN), “I knew right away somebody’s in the water and they were in trouble.”

Herstedt ran to the water and saw two men in the water and another man that was being carried away by a strong current.

One of the two men making their way to shore said the person being carried away did not know how to swim. Herstedt knew what he had to do and jumped in the water to save the man in trouble.

A second rescuer showed up and threw Herstedt an air mattress. “I swam to the side and grabbed that, and went on out to get to this kid. I was really concerned the current was going to carry him away. It wasn’t hard getting out there, because the current from the spillway was carrying me, but he was moving away from me and I didn’t know if I could catch up with him. He was going down, his face kept disappearing.”

Herstedt reached the man, helped him onto the air mattress, and then directed him back to shore. Herstedt said that if it was not for the man who threw him the air mattress, they both would have drowned.

Once at shore the man was able to catch his breath he began to thank Herstedt repeatedly.

He was almost gone. His family, they just thanked me profusely. Everybody there did, because he would’ve drowned. No doubt.

Ross Herstedt

Thank you Ross Herstedt. You are a true hero.