Fri. Oct 11th, 2024

USPS mail boat saves man from Detroit River in late night rescue

September 25, 2024
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READ FULL ARTICLE AT » FOX 2 Detroit

The J.W. Westcott II is the mailboat on the Detroit River – boasting “We deliver for you.”  It should also say –  in more ways than one.

Deckhand JC Sharp was on board the J.W. Westcott II – searching for a man in the river Monday night after hearing an emergency broadcast over the marine radio.

“Captain Neil (Schultheiss) was in there piloting – I was up here on the front deck –  I just kept scanning left to right,” Sharp said. “We headed upriver, and right around 11 p.m. we saw a gentleman floating down the river – he was attempting to swim across.”

From Windsor to Detroit – someone on the Canadian side had spotted him and thrown him a flotation device.

“This gentleman had on blue jeans and a sweater jacket or a hoodie. He was sitting on a life ring – a circle life ring, and he was floating in that,” Sharp said.

It was so dark – he was barely visible. Cold and disoriented – he needed help.

“We were able to use this shepherd’s hook – and we could reach it down into the water – we were able to pull him in to the vessel,” Sharp said. “It was very difficult to pull him in to the vessel. We just started with his arms – worked our way to his armpits and eventually I was able to grab him by his waistband and pull him over the edge fully.”

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