FDNY Pulls Man From Waters Off Canarsie Pier
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A dramatic water rescue was caught on cell phone video Saturday afternoon.
As CBS 2's Tracee Carrasco reported, the video shows first responders in an NYPD boat performing CPR, frantically trying to save a man just minutes after he fell over the Canarsie Pier railing into Jamaica Bay.
Jose Lopez said he could only stand back on the pier and watch helplessly.
"They did an amazing job to bring this guy up out of the water," he said.
It's unclear how the man ended up in the bay, but it was the quick thinking of nearby fishermen that first saved his life. They put a hook on him in the water to keep him afloat until help arrived.
"They were successfully keeping the guy's head above the water," Lopez said.
Once on scene, firefighters jumped in, put a sling over the man and swam him to safety aboard an NYPD boat, Carrasco reported.
The video shows the man being pulled out of the water and then put on a stretcher as a crowd watches.
"Approximately 15 minutes they were working on the guy. I thought the guy was a goner for sure, but they pulled the guy out breathing," Lopez said.
The man was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was last listed in critical condition.
Investigators have not yet released the man's name.
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