California dad makes heroic rescue of daughter, 2, after she falls 20 feet off ramp into East River

A good, and "chilling" story.

While I would probably have done the same thing if it were my kid, this dad is very lucky he didn't become a second person in need of rescue. It also looks like the mixed crowd of locals and tourists contained many examples of the best humanity has to offer, as plenty of people "jumped in" (literally in one case) to help.

I can't imagine how scary this must have been for the girl's parents, but the dad appears to have kept his head, made a plan, and executed it with good results. I guess you never know when you'll be called upon to act decisively.

I like to think that my kids never even step foot on a dock without a lifejacket on, but I've been to the Peking, and I'm quite sure I they would not have been wearing PFDs if we stopped by during a visit to the city.

I got choked up reading that. A dad doing what I think every dad would: jump in to save his child.

And the Frenchman doing what we all would like to think we would do but can't really know until presented with the situation.

An hour earlier these people were probably strangers to one another. Never know when the person you honk at one moment might be saving your loved one's life in the next.

Thanks for posting that link.


:-)

It warms my head to hear stories like this! Good job of her father and the bystanders


The only thing I can complain about is going "straight down as a pin". Of course jumping into "unknown" water is a calculated risk you're glad to accept at the time. The biggest risk is that you can impale yourself on nasties sticking up from the bottom (old rebar iron, poles and stuff). You'd want to curl up and stop the downward momentum as soon as possible.

Unless you hit something solid on your way down or just under the waterline, a 20 feet fall into water is not anywhere dangerous. Painful, yes, but not dangerous. But she could easily have drifted under a structure or stayed below the surface, making it hard for her dad to find her in time. THAT would be heart breaking. You've only got a couple of minutes before a drowning person starts dying, so if you loose sight of her you've probably lost her for good. Spotting something below surface in murky river water is not easy.

The cold? Very uncomfortable, but not deadly in the time frame we're talking about. You've got a window of a couple of minutes before you're too cold to swim, which is plenty for this successful recovery. If that time window isn't enough, well... warmer water and prolonged swimming probably wouldn't make a difference anyway.

"straight as a pin" - perhaps a judgment call. Maybe the Dad had some experience in diving - I can recall some 20 foot (16 foot actually) dives that left my nether region numb for a while because I didn't hold my ankles together on entry. Not to mention you can get the wind knocked out of you too. good on ya, Dad.

The attempted rescues I shudder to think of are the Washington coast surf bathers, too often a kid gets pulled out by a rip tide, and a Dad goes in to attempt a rescue, and too often one or both of them doesn't make it out alive. Our waters are just too cold to put up with waiting out some rip tides, not without a life jacket to keep your head above water. Which is why I'm taking a PFD this summer and having it on the beach to take into the water, just in case.

A follow up article says that the Dad had a bunch of rescue training back when he lived in CO

Way to go Dad!

People always make comments out loud about people who have their toddlers on a harness and leash. I think they're smart. You don't hear about this kind of thing happening to them, do you?

Lucky little girl, despite having three family members around and none of them watching or holding onto her.

Sue

Exactly, I suppose the owners of the ship half expected parents to watch their kids . . . how naive -- time to childproof the gangplank.