but on this day, it's the force of men, not nature, that's the biggest miracle of all. an unbelievable rescue mission to save one man who has crept dangerously close to the edge of the falls. the call comes in on march 19th, 2003, 5:08 p.m. sergeant pat moriarty is on duty. he's a 19-year veteran of the niagara falls state park police. >> our radio man yelled down the hall and said, we just got a call from the canadians. there's a man on the ice at terrapin point. >> not a safe place to be. terrapin point is a piece of land that sits as close to the falls as you can get. >> the drop from that point, at terrapin point, is over 180 feet straight down. if you go over in that particular spot, you're not going to survive. >> when moriarty arrives on the scene, it's even worse than he expected. the man is not on the icy formation on land. he's waist deep in frigid water.