7 Aurora Police Officers Honored for Saving Batavia Girl From Drowning

Seven Aurora police officers who came to the rescue of a 14-year-old Batavia girl, who nearly drowned last year in a retention pond, all received the Police Officer of the Year Award from the Exchange Club of Aurora on Tuesday, according to the Kane County Chronicle. 

Special operations investigators Greg Christoffel, Ed Doepel, Nick Gartner, Jeff Hahn, Erik Swastek, Josh Sullivan, and Officer Chris Coronado all received the award for their quick actions following the March 9, 2013, crash, and are credited with saving the life of Annie Prosser, 14, of Batavia. 

The officers came to the girl's rescue after the vehicle she was riding in crashed into a retention pond at I-88 and Diehl Road, according to an Aurora Police Department press release. When the officers arrived they found the car upside down and almost totally submerged in the mostly-frozen pond.  

They entered the water, which was neck-high in some places, and with assistance from firefighters, pulled Prosser from the vehicle.

The driver of the vehicle, a 20-year-old Aurora woman, did not survive, while the teen's mother and a second 14-year-old girl were able to get out of the vehicle and only suffered minor injuries, according to the Kane County Chronicle. 

Read more on the Kane County Chronicle.