Heartstopping moment Washington cops dive into freezing lake to save teen who was drowning 30 feet from shore

Three Washington police officers dove into a freezing lake to rescue a drowning teen - and the harrowing moments were caught on police body cameras. 

The three cops jumped into the waters of Wapato Lake on Monday to save a juvenile struggling to stay afloat. The officers were eating lunch at a nearby substation when they got the call at 2:11 p.m. that a 15-year-old girl had fallen into the water, reported The News Tribune.

'There's no training scenario I've been through to just run into a lake, but I know that if it was my family or my daughter, that's what I'd be doing,' officer Steve O'Neal said. 

Now, thanks to the officers' heroic efforts, the girl is alive and recovering from the ordeal. 

Tacoma Police Officer Steve O'Neal jumped into Wapato Lake on Monday to rescue a drowning girl

Tacoma Police Department said the girl was in the water 20 to 30 feet from the shoreline when help arrived.

Video shows the officers, fully clothed in heavy police gear, rush into the water to bring the teen to shore. 

The camera shakes as the cops sprinted from their vehicles to get to the lake, as sirens are heard in the background and a bystander is shouting from the shoreline.

Without hesitation, the officers jumped into the waters and worked together to bring the girl to safety. 

O'Neal was neck deep in the water as he swam to the girl and dove under to push her body forward to the other officers.

'It was very shallow when I walked in, and as I got closer to her it was a drop off,' O'Neal told reporters.

Bubbles formed as he treaded through the lake and back to the shore where he helped lift the teens limp body to the earth.

The officers rendered medical aid to the girl until the Tacoma Fire Department arrived and took her to the hospital

O'Neal (pictured) said the decision to go into the waters was an instinct and that everyone in his department would do the same

The officers rendered medical aid to the girl until the Tacoma Fire Department arrived.

'My biggest thing was just to get her back to shore, and you don't practice this kind of stuff. So I had no idea how difficult it was to move somebody out of water while you're in water,' O'Neal said. 

Police said the circumstances leading up to her falling into the water is unclear, but she was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition. 

'I just remember playing with my kids in the pool and getting underneath, hitting the ground and jumping up to push them up,' O'Neal said.

 He then added:  'Just going in there — it's just an instinct, and I know that anybody in our department would have done the same thing.'