To serve and protect.

The actions of Kyle Carner and Anthony DiClemente on Dec. 22, 2022, might seem to have gone above and beyond the call of duty. But then again, it may be that for the Manheim Township police officers this concept of "above and beyond the call of duty" simply does not exist.

DiClemente and Carner are being lauded as heroes, following their quick and decisive actions on that cold Thursday evening in December. It's a title reserved for people who place the safety and well-being of others ahead of their own.

The call came in around 8 p.m. on that fateful night. In a situation where seconds mattered, it took a minute for the call to be received and for DiClemente and Carner to be dispatched, and another two minutes for them to arrive on the scene at the intersection of Oregon Pike and Valleybrook Drive.

When they did, they found a car submerged in a pond. Inside the submerged vehicle, a 59-year-old woman was trapped.

Without hesitation, DiClemente and Carner jumped into the chest-high water and waded to the car in the middle of the pond. Working feverishly, the Manheim Township police officers quickly opened the driver's side door and extracted the woman from the car, moments before she would've become completely submerged in the murky water.

Carner and DiClemente pulled her to the edge of the pond, and there she was attended to by on-site medical personnel. The woman was transported to a local hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries.

"These guys will do whatever they have to and come back and say, 'I was just doing my job,'" said Sgt. Barry Waltz, the public information officer for the Manheim Township Police Department. "They'll come back in and say, 'Anyone would do it. We just got there first.' They don't think about it; they just go. Five seconds after they got her out, the vehicle was completely submerged."

On Jan. 23, Carner and DiClemente were honored with a letter of commendation at the Manheim Township board of commissioners' meeting.

Waltz said that water rescue is not part of the standard training for police officers.

"It was definitely a set of abnormal circumstances, not something that happens all the time, or even ever," said Waltz. "It is a big deal. The opportunity to save a life is one of the best things you can do as a police officer."

What stood out about the rescue, in addition to the cops' heroism, was that the officers worked in tandem.

"It was definitely a multi-person job," said Waltz. "These guys work together and trust each other implicitly. Nobody knew how deep the pond was. Obviously, both had the ability to swim, and in circumstances like that, you just have to have a level of confidence. In a couple of seconds, when someone's in the water, you have to decide, 'I'm going to go.'"