Two Ansonia teens helped a man after he apparently suffered a seizure and fell into a small pond at the intersection of North Main Street and West Brookside Avenue.
Cory Thomas, 19, was on the opposite side of North Main Street at a neighbor’s house at about 10:30 a.m. Friday when he heard cries for help.
“I heard somebody screaming ‘Will somebody please help me!’” Thomas said.
“I was thinking it was just kids playing around, but the person kept screaming,” he said.
Thomas ran across North Main Street and saw a man partially submerged in the water next to a small foot bridge.
“He was in that lake trying to crawl up,” Thomas said.
The man was shaking badly. He was having trouble communicating, Thomas said.
“I told him don’t move, I’ll get help,” he said.
Thomas ran and got his younger brother Kyle, 17, and called 911.
Thomas said the man had been walking on the sidewalk above the water and just fell over, into the water.
“I think he might have been down there for awhile, the way he was shaking,” Thomas said.
Police arrived to help the man.
Officer Joseph Jackson went into knee-deep water to pull the man out. The man was still having serious seizures as Jackson struggled in the water. He called for backup, telling them to “step it up” before losing his radio to the water.
Jackson said the man might have fallen from the foot bridge, which was about 14-feet above the water. He credited the boys for helping the man and calling for help.
Crews from Ansonia Rescue Medical Services and Valley Emergency Medical Services helped the man The volunteer fire department responded, too.
The man — whose name wasn’t immediately available — was taken to the hospital.
Police said he was conscious and alert when he was put in the ambulance.
The air temperature was 43 degrees Friday morning, with a wind chill of 36 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s cold out here. I’m so proud of my boys because I don’t think that man would be here if it wasn’t for them,” said Kyle and Cory’s mother, Chinniah, who has lived in Ansonia for about 22 years.
