Rye Police Officer Michael Kenny took a call around noon October 12, saying three fishermen were stranded between Playland and Parsonage Point on rocks about 50 yards offshore from Phillips Lane.
By Mitch Silver
Rye Police Officer Michael Kenny took a call around noon October 12, saying three fishermen were stranded between Playland and Parsonage Point on rocks about 50 yards offshore from Phillips Lane. Since Rye’s own police marine unit was not immediately available, calls were placed to Mamaroneck and then Greenwich, which responded with three officers, one of them in a “dry suit”, in a large motorboat. Soon, Rye Officer Mauricio Gomez was able to join Officer Kenny in Rye’s own boat, a smaller, more maneuverable craft, and they actually beat Greenwich to the scene by a couple of minutes.
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“There were 6-8 foot swells getting out there, with 25-30-knot winds,” Officer Kenny told us. “Two men and a woman apparently went fishing at low tide, walking out from Rye Town Park. The incoming tide must have caught them by surprise. We tried to throw them life vests but it was so slippery, we were worried they’d reach for the vests and fall in.”
Officer Kenny leapt aboard the Greenwich boat to assist. Meanwhile, back at Rye Police Headquarters, Lt. Robert Falk contacted Westchester County’s Aviation Unit, which sent a helicopter to the scene.
“We managed to get the woman in the Greenwich boat,” Officer Kenny continued, “but it was becoming more difficult as time went on, with 3-foot swells breaking over the rocks. Westchester Captain Chris Lieberman set the helicopter down and picked up one of the men, and then he went back for the other one. He landed them in the closest backyard on shore and returned to home base.”
The victims were wet and cold, but uninjured. Officer Gomez said, “It was good, coordinated police work by everyone.”
“A day of fishing might have ended in tragedy except for the skillful actions of all the officers involved,” said Westchester County Police Commissioner George N. Longworth. “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.”
