NYPD Officer Artur Kasprzak dies after saving family from Sandy-flooded house

NEW YORK Among the 22 people killed in New York City as a result of superstorm Sandy was an off-duty police officer who died after rescuing his family from floodwaters, CBS station WCBS-TV reports.

Officer Artur Kasprzak, 28, died Monday night in the basement of his home on Staten Island, the New York Police Department said in a release.

Around 7 p.m. ET, with floodwaters surging in his home, Kasprzak was able to get six members of his family, including two men, ages 69 and 31, three women, ages 31, 56 and 68, and a 15-month-old boy into his attic so they could safely escape rapidly rising water.

Kasprzak then told one of the women he rescued that he was going to check the basement but would be right back.

Around 7:23 p.m. one of the women called 911 to report the officer missing.

Personnel from the department's emergency service and scuba units immediately responded to the residence using boats and jet skis but couldn't get to the home because of electrified power lines in the water.

After the house was deemed safe to enter, a search ensued around 7 a.m. Tuesday. Kasprzak's body was found unconscious and unresponsive in the basement. Emergency medical technicians on scene pronounced him dead.

The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.

Kasprzak was assigned to a precinct in Manhattan and had 6 years on the job. Previously, he had served on a detective squad.