M. Ross Klun and Catherine Kinyua helped to save a man from drowning, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 30, 2016. The man, 32, floated motionless in a deep, murky inlet of the Charles River near a bulkhead adjacent to a highway.
Alerted by bystanders, a passing motorist, Klun, 45, off-duty sheriff’s lieutenant, left his car and went to the sidewalk’s railing. Seeing the man face down in the river, Klun climbed over the railing to a ledge, about 15 feet above the surface of the water. Klun removed his jacket and boots, and jumped into the 53-degree water from which there was no easy egress. Kinyua, 24, paralegal, who had also been passing by the scene and stopped, also climbed over the railing and, after removing her boots and glasses, jumped into the river.
Klun grasped the man and turned him over, elevating his face above the water’s surface. Klun revived him, then grasped him from behind and towed him about 5 feet to the bulkhead, to which he held while supporting him. Kinyua swam to the bulkhead and helped Klun hold the man up while treading water.
Police responded shortly in a boat and brought the man, Kinyua, and Klun aboard. The man was hospitalized. Klun and Kinyua were cold but not injured.
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