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NYPD: Man Rescued After Jumping Into East River

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man is saved from drowning in the East River after good Samaritans jumped in to help after seeing him struggling in the water.

According to officials, NYPD Capt. Gary Messina was taking his morning jog along the East River near 10th Street around 7:15 a.m. when he noticed a man in his 50s jump into the water and begin to struggle.

Messina then climbed over the railing and jumped in after the man. He was accompanied by civilians John Green and David Blauzvern, who witnessed the incident.

With years of lifeguard experience under his belt, Blauzvern didn't hesitiate for a moment when he saw the man in the water, CBS2's Esha Ray reported.

"If you look in the water, you see this big guy flailing his arms," Blauzvern said. "He was clearly not able to swim, so I jumped in."

He continued, "So we were just treading water trying to hold this guy up. And he's trying to hold himself up too. So we're struggling to hold him up but it worked out."

Messina jumped right in after Blauzvern.

"This is what we're here to do. We're here to help the people of the city of New York, and this is what we just did," Messina said.

The good Samaritans swam about 20 yards to where the man was struggling. According to officials, Blauzvern managed to grab the man around his chest and helped drag him to the wall next to the riverbank. Harbor patrol met the men on scene to assist with the rescue. 

"We noticed there were actually four people in the water at the time," one harbor patrol officer on the scene told 1010 WINS Juliet Papa. "Two people holding on to the sea wall -- one other person holding on to another person who looked like they were in distress."

Linda Kabore was one of the first witnesses to see him climb over the barricade that morning and one of the first to call 911. She remembered a white hospital band around the man's wrist and no emotion in his face.

"It just looked odd to me. I said something must be wrong with him," Kabore said. "But before I could say anything he was gone."

The man who jumped in the river was taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation. According to officials, the man has a hospital wristband on at the time of the incident.

The identity of the man was not immediately known.

All three of the good Samaritans came out of the water unharmed. Messia said Green left the scene almost immediately because he was late for work.

An investigation into why the man jumped into the river is ongoing.

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