Panic started to set in after Katie Beck realized her 72-year-old mother-in-law and 5-year-old daughter could not paddle their way back to shore on Cedar Lake in Minneapolis.
What should have been a fun raft ride in the humid weather turned into a nerve-wracking water rescue.
Earlier Tuesday, Beck said her mother-in-law, Margie Beck of St. Louis Park, bought a $20 raft as a treat for her grandchildren and daughter-in-law visiting from Wrenshall, a small town of about 500 people in northeastern Minnesota. They arrived at the beach at 3 p.m.
Katie Beck said the strong wind started to push the raft carrying Margie and 5-year-old Stella farther and farther away.
Stella was wearing a life-jacket but Margie wasn't. Katie Beck said fear slowly crept in as she watched the two drifting away. Right next to her was her 3-year-old daughter Lilly, who would have had no one to watch her if Beck swam out there to save them.
"I had to kind of talk to myself, so I wouldn't get emotional," Beck said.
She had left her phone in the car, so she asked people on the beach to call the police. When police arrived about 4 p.m., Beck said that Margie and Stella had been stranded for about 45 minutes and had drifted to the middle of the lake.
"[Margie] even commented when she heard the siren. She said she was hoping it was for her," Beck said.
