Expat saves man from icy Hudson
AN Irish paramedic who jumped into a freezing New York river to rescue a man has been hailed a hero – for the third time in his career.
Niall O’Shaughnessy, originally from Limerick city, pleaded with the man to help him so they could both be rescued from the icy Hudson River. ‘I said, “I’m getting real cold here too, you gotta help me”,’ said Mr O’Shaughnessy.
The heavy-set man in the river, who was in his early 50s, was about to lose consciousness and could barely mutter ‘thank you’.
He had fled from a hospital and jumped into the river in -4C weather, wearing a heavy shoulder bag to weigh himself down. Mr O’Shaughnessy, 40, and a colleague heard a police radio call about the incident, drove to the spot and saw the man in the water.
Mr O’Shaughnessy said: ‘To be honest, I thought he was dead. His head was in the water and he wasn’t moving at all.’
The paramedic then grabbed a flotation device, took off his shoes and paramedic belt and dived in.
‘After a minute in the water I lost feeling in my arms and legs and he wasn’t able to move so I asked him to please put his arms on a floatation ring,’ said Mr O’Shaughnessy.
The man muttered ‘thank you’ before firefighters then pushed a ladder into the water.
Mr O’Shaughnessy said: ‘There is no way he could drag himself on to the ladder so we waited for a patrol boat and they pulled him on board, and I pulled myself on the ladder and was dragged to the shore.’
This is the third major rescue for Mr O’Shaughnessy, a member of the New York Fire Department emergency services team.
In 2015, he jumped into the Hudson to save a woman from drowning and the year before he jumped on to a subway track to save a 22year-old Belfast student who fell off a platform at Times Square. Three trains passed over her.
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