Dad-to-be saved from Welland River
Niagara Falls city worker jumps in to pull struggling swimmer to safety in Chippawa
A City of Niagara Falls employee is being hailed a hero for saving a swimmer in distress near the Chippawa boat dock.
Last Thursday, a two-person roads and general maintenance crew were doing their normal cleanup in the area when one of the workers was alerted to a young woman yelling for help along the shoreline, said John Morocco, operations superintendent for the city.
“Apparently, (an) individual had been swimming off the dock with a friend or two, got himself in trouble, then obviously panicked and fatigued his friend who was trying to save him,” said Morocco. “His friend had to back off and try and get back or else we would have had two of them in the water in trouble.”
That’s when one of the crew members, Joe Gagliardi, dove in with all of his work gear on, and “smartly swam up and got in behind the individual and put an arm around his neck and towed him to shore,” said Morocco.
He said they were about 13 metres from the river bank.
Morocco said by the time the struggling man was brought to shore, he was “pretty much in distress.”
He said paramedics and police were called and they were “pretty quick to credit (Gagliardi) with changing how that certainly would have turned out.”
The man who Gagliardi saved was 22-year-old St. Catharines resident Travis Pickett.
Pickett said he and two friends had decided to swim across from one side to the other of the Welland River in Chippawa.
About three-quarters of the way across, Pickett said he looked around and saw his one friend swimming back to shore because he didn’t think he could do it.
Pickett said his leg started to cramp up.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t good,’ but I was a little egotistical at first. I was like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna be fine, I can do this with my arms.’
“Then I realized that wasn’t possible.”
Pickett said he looked over to his friend and asked for help.
“He said, ‘Swim over to me.’ He and I basically got from the opposite side of the canal almost back to the shore, and then he just didn’t have any more energy and I was going under a couple times here and there.”
Pickett said someone threw a life-jacket into the water, but he couldn’t get to it.
“A city worker jumped in and he was the one the actually helped me on to the shore. Everybody there was honestly like the only reason I’m still here.”
Pickett said as he was bobbing in and out and breathing in some of the water, “I thought I was done.”
“(The life-jacket) was like 15 feet away from me, and I’m like, ‘This is how I’m going to die, I’m going to die with a life-jacket that close,’” he said.
“The worst part about it is my girlfriend is eight months pregnant, so I got a kid on the way, and that was running through my head. I said, ‘I’m going to die doing something stupid as opposed to being there for my kid.’ “It was terrifying.” Pickett said he wants to talk to Gagliardi and thank him for saving his life.
Morocco said Gagliardi is a “pretty shy guy” and didn’t want to be interviewed for this story.
“It was pretty heroic. He went in with all his gear, including his weighted boots,” said Morocco. “I mean he’s a strong kid, and for him to do that and be able to swim out and get this individual and tow him into shore with all his gear on, is incredible.
“He realized time was of the essence. There was no time to strip down. To him, a couple of seconds, this guy was going under and he’d lose sight of him, and that would have been the end of that.”
Morocco said when Gagliardi made it back to the service centre later that day, “all the guys were congratulating him and saying job well done.”
“He was not only calm and cool about it, he was very low-key. He came in and was like matter of fact. He came in and he said, ‘Can I go home and change?’ We were like, yeah, we’re all good with that.”
Niagara Regional Police Insp. James McCaffery said Gagliardi’s “selfless act” played a role in preventing a tragedy.
“The water conditions in that area are treacherous with currents and can be perilous,” he said. “His actions in this incident demonstrate the best qualities of a human being and a representative/ employee of the City of Niagara Falls.”
Coun. Wayne Thomson, who heard of the incident, said he’s going to contact the mayor’s office and ask to have Gagliardi recognized at a future council meeting. rspiteri@postmedia.com