Copyright 2005 Newsday, Inc.
Man who attempted to rescue driver who plunged into Port Jefferson Harbor details how they were saved by volunteer firefighters
By MITCHELL FREEDMAN, ERIK GERMAN and JOSEPH MALLIA
Staff Writers
Newsday (New York)
Christopher Kelsch was sipping a cup of coffee when he saw a man drive his car down a boat ramp and into the frigid waters of Port Jefferson Harbor.
Kelsch plunged in to try to save the driver Monday night. But soon Kelsch needed to be rescued himself.
Two Port Jefferson volunteer firefighters, who arrived at the scene wearing buoyant ice rescue suits, pulled both Kelsch and the driver, Richard Levin, 60, of Setauket, out of the water.
Levin remained in critical condition yesterday in St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.
It all started at 6:05 p.m. Monday, when Levin, apparently confused, drove his 2003 Audi past the stoplight at Barnum Avenue and West Broadway, through a parking lot and into the harbor, Suffolk police said.
A witness, Christopher Araujo, 16, said the car was moving about 40 mph and did not slow down.
For Kelsch, his actions now come back to him in a chilly blur.
“I called 911 and went to my truck to get a pipe,” Kelsch said.
“I took off my jacket and shoes. I swam out and tried to break the window.”
“I couldn’t just stand by and watch someone die,” Kelsch said yesterday as he stood in the driveway of his Hampton Bays home, after he was treated for hypothermia at Stony Brook University Hospital and released.
When Kelsch reached the car, it was still floating but was about three-fourths submerged and starting to flip over, he said. Levin was trapped inside with the doors and windows shut. After Kelsch smashed the driver’s window with the pipe, he tried but failed to pull him out.
By now Kelsch was exhausted and cold. He feared for his own life. Then he saw someone coming toward him.
“I remember ... an extremely brave guy in a yellow rescue suit swimming over to me,” he said. “You have to respect those rescue people. They’re like angels from heaven.”
Port Jefferson volunteer firefighters David Okst and Brennan Holmes had already changed into the rescue suits by the time they arrived in a truck, around 5 minutes after the 911 call came in, said Tom Coyle, the Port Jefferson fire chief.
They first saved Kelsch, who was bobbing in the water nearly immobile from cold and exhaustion, then turned their attention to Levin in the car, which was under about 10 feet of water.
After several attempts, Okst saw a fold of Levin’s coat and grabbed it, hauling the unconscious man through a window.
A physician on the St. Charles Hospital staff, who did not treat Levin but was familiar with his condition, said that while lengthy deprivation of oxygen carries a risk of brain injury, the damage could be lessened by cold temperatures. “The only thing he had going for him was that it was cold water,” Dr. Adam Carter said.
Levin may have been underwater as long as 17 minutes, said Coyle, the fire chief.
The rescue called on the efforts not only of Okst and Holmes, but of all the other volunteers who supported them on Monday night, Coyle said.
“It was the ultimate team effort,” the chief said.