Homeowner Rescues Man Who Accidentally Drives Into Pool On Long Island
COMMACK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A homeowner came to the rescue for a 79-year-old man Monday, after the man accidentally drove right into the homeowner's in-ground swimming pool on Long Island.
Joseph DiDonato was driving a 2010 Acura sport-utility vehicle through the parking lot of Mayfair Foot Care, at 19 Harned Rd. in Commack, around 3:45 p.m., Suffolk County police said. He apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, and the vehicle broke through the backyard fence of a nearby house, police said.
Joseph DiDonato was driving a 2010 Acura sport-utility vehicle through the parking lot of Mayfair Foot Care, at 19 Harned Rd. in Commack, around 3:45 p.m., Suffolk County police said. He apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, and the vehicle broke through the backyard fence of a nearby house, police said.
The SUV ended up in the deep end of an eight foot-deep in-ground pool in the backyard of the house on Smiths Lane in Commack, police said.
As CBS 2's Jessica Schneider reported, the homeowner -- Jon Bacchi, 32 – was in the backyard at the time of the crash, police said. He jumped into the pool, smashed the driver's side window, and pulled DiDonato out to safety, police said.
"I just jumped in to get him out, you know?" Bacchi said. "The window -- we couldn't roll the window down, so I had my neighbor hand me something to smash the window. We smashed the window, and we just pulled him out."
Bacchi's neighbor, Ed Fiorvanti, saw it all happen.
"What the heck is going on?" Fiorvanti said. "It happened so quick, but as the car was in the air, it seemed like slow motion at the same time."
DiDonato was taken to North Shore-LIJ Health System Huntington Hospital in Huntington for evaluation, police said. Neither Bacchi nor his wife, who was also in the backyard at the time, was injured, police said.
But the pool now needs major repairs – and it was brand new.
"Yeah, new pool," Bacchi said. "He was the second one to go swimming in it. I was the third."
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