As choppy waters rose around them, three persons stranded on a rock in Long Island Sound were rescued recently by the Westchester County Police Aviation Unit and Marine Units from the City of Rye and Town of Greenwich police departments.
The harrowing rescue effort came after the trio – a woman and two men – walked out to a rocky outcropping at low tide to do some fishing off Oakland Beach in Rye. The three became trapped when the tide surged in faster than they expected and the surf turned rough, stranding them on a small rocky area about 50 yards offshore as the waters churned around them.
Marine Unit officers from Rye and Greenwich responded about 11:45 a.m. and faced challenging conditions. Four-to-six-foot swells, coupled with the very rocky area where the trio was stranded, made the rescue effort difficult. The woman was eventually taken aboard the Rye police boat. Rye officers also tossed Personal Flotation Devices – life vests – to the two men.
The Westchester County Police helicopter moved in as the ever-rising tide closed around the two fishermen, submerging the small spot where they stood.
Detective Christopher Lieberman, the Aviation Unit's chief pilot, hovered the aircraft at the water's surface while Police Officer Michael Brady went out on the aircraft's skids and hauled one of the men into the helicopter. The second man lost his footing and fell into the water, but stayed afloat because of life vest he had been given. Lieberman repositioned the aircraft as the man drifted away, and Brady was able to reach that man and pull him up and into the helicopter as well.
"A day of fishing might have ended in tragedy except for the skillful actions of all the officers involved," county Commissioner of Public Safety George N. Longworth said. "I commend the members of the county police Aviation Unit, and the Rye and Greenwich Marine Units, for the perseverance and teamwork they displayed under very difficult conditions."
The officers aboard the Rye Police Marine Unit boat were identified by their department as Police Officers Mike Kenny and Mauricio Gomez.
The officers aboard the Greenwich Police Marine Unit boat were identified by their department as Sgt. Jim Bonney and Police Officers John Repik and Frank DiPietro.
The three rescued persons, who are from Flushing, Queens, were treated at the scene by members of the Rye-Port Chester Volunteer Ambulance Corps.