Without the help of an unknown stranger, things could have turned out much worse for a freezing man who fell into the Allegheny River early Wednesday morning.
The stranger heard the man’s cries for help and called 911 before clasping on to the man’s arms, holding him above the water’s surface near Acrisure Stadium, according to Pittsburgh EMS District Chief Fred Caprio.
When medics arrived at the river’s edge about seven minutes later, Caprio said they found the stranger kneeling on the riverwalk, still holding the desperate man above water.
Caprio and another medic heaved the man three to four feet back up to the riverwalk by his arms, and began treating him for hypothermia.
“By the time I looked over my shoulder, (the stranger) was gone,” Caprio said Thursday. “He was just a good Samaritan.”
The fallen man’s temperature rose quickly, and Caprio said he expects him to recover.
The man’s chances for survival would have drastically decreased if he sank below the river’s surface, Caprio said.
The chief said he was “grateful” for the stranger’s intervention.
“I think it’s just a good story of people helping people,” Caprio said. “He contributed to a positive outcome.”