Authorities Rescue 4 In Separate Incidents Involving Overturned Sailboats
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There were a pair of water rescues in New York on Tuesday -- one near the Statue of Liberty and the other on Long Island Sound.
Suffolk County Police said that Marine Bureau officers helped save three men minutes after their sailboat overturned and sank in Huntington.
Authorities said the men were in a 23-foot foot Pierson sailboat when a gust of wind knocked the boat over in the Long Island Sound. The incident happened 300 yards north of Target Rock around 6:30 p.m.
Police were alerted to the incident when a witness called 911.
The boat's operator, Stephen Cozey, 22, of Syosset, and his two passengers, Matt Kruger, 22, of Syossett, and Trevor Howard, 21, of Key West, Florida, were not injured, police said, adding they were not wearing life jackets.
Meanwhile 36-year-old Jonathan Kreger was rescued by police in the waters near the Statute of Liberty. The man's sailboat capsized.
Authorities said a Statue of Liberty ferry boat noticed and notified Park Police. The man was uninjured, but exhausted, according to Park Police Sgt. Pete Culver.
"I believe he stayed with the vessel. I believe he was trying to correct it to upright the sail boat and was unsuccessful in doing so and then at that point, he was just too tired and stayed with the vessel," he told 1010 WINS.
Culver said the man said he was in the water between 30 to 40 minutes. His boat was towed back to Liberty State Park in Jersey City, where he began his trip.
