By Andy Rathbun

Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Passersby helped rescue a young mother, a teenager and a baby from a freezing pond after their vehicle left a western Wisconsin road and broke through the ice.

According to the Polk County, Wis., sheriff’s office, 19-year-old Nycole Stream of Amery, Wis., was driving a 2001 Toyota Tundra north on County Highway H in the town of Apple River at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday when the vehicle apparently veered off of the roadway and went down a steep embankment into a pond.

Terry and Pamela Blegen of Balsam Lake saw the truck splash in the pond as they approached the scene.

As Pamela Blegen called 911, Terry Blegen entered the water.

Two more passersby — Thomas Cole of St. Croix Falls and Shawn Spafford of Amery — joined Blegen in the pond and rescued Stream and a 16-year-old passenger, Krystyna Walenczak of Frederic, Wis., as the two of them struggled to keep their heads above the freezing water, according to the sheriff’s office.

Five-month-old Ayidden Stream still was in the vehicle and under the water.

The three men eventually were able to find the baby and got him out of the vehicle.

He initially was unresponsive, but the rescuers were able to revive him.

All three people in the Tundra were taken to a local hospital.

The infant later was transferred to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul.

Polk County Sheriff Pete Johnson said Monday that the boy’s mother had reported her son already had come home after being in the hospital.

Neither Nycole Stream or Walenczak suffered serious injuries, Johnson said.

—Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.