Around 11 am Thursday, a worker riding across the lakes on a small tractor broke through the ice he was beginning to plow for skating.
"You see what happens," Tarrytown Recreation Department director Joe Arduino said, referring to a number of incidents last year when officers fined EF students for walking out on the ice.
Though they had tested the depth of the ice in several spots, Arduino said the vehicle hit a spot not far out from the Skate Shack and parking lot that has a spring under it. "It's not ready," he said.
The worker, who has been with the department for about 20 years, was rescued by his own crew nearby, who are trained in such rescues and had a yellow plastic stretcher on hand.
He was already at the shore, witness Bruce Wiacek said, when the emergency vehicles - and a slew of them - arrived moments later.
The worker was taken to Phelps Memorial Hospital around 11:20, where Arduino and others would be going to check on his condition.
Police had taped off the area and the scene was mostly clear by 11:30, save for a news helicopter and Channel 12 van.
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