shueman
Libra
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Born To Drive...
   
Alta Loma CA
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Posted: May 06 2006,8:32 am |
Post # 12 |
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Remember to wear your PFD's....
Willie Cobb said he appreciates the efforts of a teenage boy and girl who rescued him and a friend Saturday morning after a boating accident on Hatch Pond in South Kent.
Mr. Cobb, 60, was fishing with Jesse Cox, 75, and a third friend, John Crews, 66, on the pond when their boat capsized.
Mr. Cobb and Mr. Cox were taken to New Milford Hospital and treated for hypothermia. Mr. Crews died. “All I know is that I was pulling the fish. Never got it into the boat. And the next thing I knew, I was in the water.â€
“We don’t know what happened,†Mr. Cobb said from his hospital room Monday. “All I know is that I was pulling the fish. Never got it into the boat. And the next thing I knew, I was in the water.â€
Fortunately for the men, Joey Kyek and his girlfriend, Samantha Adler, both 17 and from Brookfield, were on the pond fishing that day. Mr. Kyek is an EMT and a firefighter with the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department.
Joey and Samantha’s boat was some 50 feet from the other boat when it capsized. The teens immediately made their way to the capsized boat after hearing the splash. Both were small aluminum fishing crafts.
As they headed to the accident, Joey saw Mr. Crews doing a “dog paddle in place, just keeping his head above water.†Mr. Cobb and Mr. Cox were holding onto the boat.
“We yelled to them,†Joey said, “and at first they said they were all right. I cut the line to their anchor so we could right the boat and get them in. Then Willie said, ‘Just help us. We can’t swim.’Ÿâ€
Joey got into the water, grabbed Mr. Cox by the coat, pulled his grip from the boat, and started to swim to shore with him. “Where’s the third guy?,†Joey asked as he pulled at Mr. Cox.
“I remember one of them saying, ‘He made it to shore.’ And I thought that must be the guy in the red coat,†Joey said about a man he’d seen earlier.
Joey estimates the water in the pond was “no warmer than 55 degrees.â€
Because the men’s fishing lines had become tangled in the teens’ boat motor, Samantha was paddling the boat toward shore and pulling the other craft, to which Willie Cobb was still clinging.
Two other fishermen, in a bass boat owned by James Ellis, headed toward her to help.
“Willie was pointing toward the shore, then his finger dropped toward the water. He said, ‘There’s my friend,’Ÿ†Samantha recalled.
“I was confused and said, ‘Where?’ One man on the bass boat looked around and said, ‘Oh, my God, does he have a red jacket on?â€
“Joey and I said `yes’ and he said, ‘Oh, man, he’s right there†and pointed under the water’s surface.
Joey dove to the bottom, pulled Mr. Crews up on the bass boat with the help of the two bass fishermen, and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Mr. Crews had been underwater five to 10 minutes, Joey estimated. The teen was able to get Mr. Crews to spit up water, but ultimately the rescue was too late.
The bass fishermen had called 911, and a rescue crew from the Kent Volunteer Fire Department was quickly on the scene.
Mr. Crews was transported by LifeStar helicopter to St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, where he was pronounced dead.
“I can still see John (Crews) swimming,†Joey said. “We tried our best. We just have to remember that without our help, all of them could have been lost.â€
The State Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the accident.
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12-24-2025 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#20,034) from: GoFastRacer
I know that there is a law about having to wear a life preserver until a certain age, that escapes me right now but I think it's 13..... 
