Dramatic Rescue In The Chilly March Waters Of Cold Spring Harbor.
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Cell phone video shows the final stretch of a Suffolk County cop’s dramatic rescue of a bayman in distress in Cold Spring Harbor Wednesday.
Video obtained by The Long Islander shows SCPD Officer Chris Jablonski swimming toward shore with a rope pulling a dinghy to which the bayman is clinging. In the final 25 yards or so, a Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department volunteer swims out with a rope and ties it to the front of the boat, and a chain of first responders on the boat ramp pulls them all in.
The operation came together quickly after several people called 911 to report a man in distress in Cold Spring Harbor Wednesday morning.
“We received a call at 8:47 a.m. – we received several calls actually – that a male had fallen in the water off of the boat ramp in Cold Spring Harbor,” SCPD Officer James Garside said. “He had his head bent back and was calling out.”
Fellow Second Precinct Officer Christopher Jablonski, who arrived on the scene in a separate cruiser, jumped into action.
“Officer Jablonski stripped to his undergarments, grabbed a nearby dinghy and started paddling out with just his hands,” Garside said.
When Jablonski reached the man, “he at first attempted to pull him into the boat, but was unable. He then told the man to hang on the back of the boat and he would paddle them in,” Garside said.
When that didn’t work, Jablonski jumped in the water and with Holm clinging to the back of the the boat towed the dinghy in.
“There was a small piece of rope at the front of the boat that would be used to tether it to a mooring. He grabbed the rope and pulled them in,” Garside said.
As they approached the boat ramp, a Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department rescuer dove in the water and swam to the dinghy with a rope which he tied to its front. On shore, a chain of rescue workers rapidly pulled it in for the final few yards.
Garside, a member of the Suffolk County Police Medical Crisis Action Team (MedCAT), and a paramedic from the Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department provided advanced life support.
While Holm had difficulty communicating, the officer was able to get his name, date of birth and some essentials, and ascertained that he is a bayman.
“He was in the water a long time. His lips were blue, his skin was blue,” a condition called central cyanosis, Garside said. The blue pallor indicates blood is not getting oxygenated.
Inside a Cold Spring Harbor Rescue ambulance, “Cold Spring Harbor medics gave him oxygen, took his blood pressure and vitals and started him on an IV,” Garside said. “We wrapped him in a warming blanket – called a bear hugger – and once we were in the hospital they gave him a warm IV to warm his blood.”
Holm, 43, was treated at Huntington Hospital. Jablonski was evaluated at the scene.
When it was over, “I asked [Officer Jablonski], did you realize how cold that water was?’” Garside said. “He said, ‘no, not until I was in it.’”
