NATION'S OLDEST WATER RESCUE ORGANIZATION TO HONOR 22 AREA HEROES AND EIGHT FORMER HONOREES KILLED AT WTC

NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 15, 2002 -- Twenty New York City police officers and firefighters and two private citizens are being honored today for personal bravery during rescues in the waters surrounding New York and New Jersey.

The Life Saving Benevolent Association (LSBA), first chartered by the New York Legislature in 1849 to honor heroes involved in water rescues, will also donate $25,000 to the New York Police & Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund to honor and remember eight past LSBA award recipients who perished in the September 11 World Trade Center disaster. LSBA is joined in this donation by Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. The two organizations have been affiliated since 1849.

The presentations are being made at 10 a.m. today at the India House at One Hanover Square in Manhattan.

Among those being honored are Eric M. Svihovec, a college student who rescued a mother and infant from a car that plummeted into the waters off Mt. Sinai on Long Island and two harbor patrol officers who saved three men and a nine-year-old boy when their 23-foot boat capsized in extremely rough seas off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

"We can never have enough heroes," said Klaus G. Dorfi, president of the LSBA and chairman/CEO of Atlantic Mutual Companies, "and the LSBA is pleased to honor those who put themselves in jeopardy to save the lives of others."

The awards continue a tradition begun in 1849 when the New York legislature granted a request from New York ship owners, merchants and insurers-including 151-year supporter, the Atlantic Mutual Companies-to charter the LSBA. One of its first actions was to establish 26 life-saving stations at five-mile intervals along the Long Island and New Jersey shorelines. These stations were eventually taken over by what became the U.S. Coast Guard.

The first recipients of LSBA awards were one-armed Benjamin Downing, 66, and his 16-year-old son who, in 1850, rowed a galvanized "Francis" lifeboat out in a raging August storm to save two men clinging to the bottom of a capsized schooner off Eaton's neck, Long Island.

In addition to rewarding rescuers, LSBA contributes to non-profit organizations that promote maritime safety. Recipients have included the New York Maritime College, State University of New York, Maritime Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Maine Maritime Academy and the Seaman's Church Institute.

"It deeply saddens us that the eight individuals we once honored here as heroes have been lost to us," said Dorfi. "But we know they would be the first to stand with pride and applaud those whom we honor here today. Their legacy of bravery and personal unselfishness lives on here today."

Past recipients being remembered through the donation to the Fund include Firefighters Dennis Devlin (1993), Jeffrey Giordano (1997), Mathew Rogan (1999), John Santore (1991), Kevin Smith (1990), Patrick Waters (1998) and Police Officers Thomas Langone (1995) and Joseph Vigiano (2001)-all lost on the World Trade Center disaster.

Participating in the ceremonies today are New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, New York City Fire Chief Frank Fellini, New York City Deputy Police Commissioner Frederick Patrick, Herb Eyser of the International Association of Fire Fighters and Mr. Brendan Gallagher, a committee member of the New York Police and Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund.

Individuals being honored today include a wide range of heroic acts including the rescue of victims from the Hudson and East Rivers, from a reservoir drainpipe and from a jet ski accident on Jamaica Bay. The honorees include:

Eric M. Svihovec, a college student and summer dockhand at Ralph's Fishing Station in Mt. Sinai on Long Island who noticed a taillight and a splash as a car plummeted into the water beyond the store's boat ramp in heavy, driving rain. The young dockhand jumped into the water, yelled for someone to call 911 and saw a woman in a sinking car banging on the passenger's side window. Svihovec yanked open the door and was pulling the victim out when she told him her 10-week-old baby was still in the back seat. As water 12 feet deep began to fill the car, Svihovec began working to free the child's car seat. After several unsuccessful attempts he was finally able to break the seat loose from its belts and bring the baby to the surface. Eric resides in Miller Place, New York.

Firefighter Glenn Bullock of the NYFD Special Operations Command was responding with his company to a report of a man drowning in the East River off Grand Street on Sept. 1 last year. As members of the unit scanned the swift-moving backwaters of the river to find the victim, two civilians approached and showed them where the man had leaped into the river. Rescuers had a glimpse of what they thought was a shoe just visible underwater. Firefighter Bullock swam to the spot and despite zero visibility, submerged to hunt for the victim. On his second attempt, he found the semi-conscious man in water 35 deep about 300 feet north of the Williamsburg Bridge. Bullock brought him to the surface to a bulkhead where other firefighters were waiting to pull the victim from the river. Glenn lives in East Quoque, New York.

Det. Christopher Ballou and Police Officer Joseph Androwski of the NYPD Harbor Unit, jumped from a rescue helicopter into the East River to save a 45-year-old drowning man as a tugboat pushing six barges was bearing down on the victim. The two officers loaded the man into the helicopter's rescue basket. But because of the tugboat's proximity and a fear the victim could die of hypothermia, they waved the helicopter off and were taken aboard a police harbor launch 10 minutes later. Both men live on Staten Island.

Police Officers Robert Masucci and William A. Lutz of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit responded to a radio call of a man drowning in the East River at 39th Street late at night in November two years ago. Officer Masucci donned a dry suit and entered the 30-foot-deep rough water to help s semi-conscious man struggling to stay afloat. Officer Lutz donned a dry suit and entered the water to assist while a lifeline was lowered from a bulkhead and the man was lifted to shore. Officer Masucci lives on Staten Island and Officer Lutz leaves in Pearl River, New York.

Sgt. John B. Lambkin and Police Officer Gregory Welch of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit responded to reports of a man drowning in the East River on the morning of February 21 last year. The victim who was suffering from hypothermia was unable to grasp a life ring and Sgt. Lambkin and Officer Welch who were wearing dive suits jumped into the water and swam to the victim. Sgt. Lambkin kept the victim afloat while Officer Welch attached a lifeline to him and brought him to safety. Sgt. Lambkin lives in Chester, New York. Officer Welch lives in Wantagh, New York.

Firefighter Thomas Conroy and Lt. Gerard Murtha of the NYFD Rescue 3 were called to help a worker trapped in a whirlpool in a 30-inch drainage pipe he and others had been cleaning at the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx. Firefighter Conroy donned a cold-water exposure suit and body harness and was lowered 20 feet into the confined space where the force of the water had pinned the worker against the wall of the shaft. The severe water flow prevented the rescue team from securing a safety line to the trapped worker and Lt. Murtha ordered two other members of the rescue unit to try to shut the valve leading to the drain. They were able to partially decrease the flow, enough for Murtha and Conroy to pull the trapped worker free.

Police Officers Joseph Wendler and Clifford Allen, both honored previously by the LSBA, received a distress call reporting a man in the Hudson River near a floating pier on West 44th Street. When they arrived, they found two civilians attempting to keep the 56-year-old victim's head above water while his clothing was caught on several nails under the pier. Wearing dry suits and life jackets, the two officers jumped into the water and, while Wendler held the semi-conscious man's head above water, Allen swam under the pier and cut away his clothing. The pair then lifted him to shore. Officer Wendler lives in Brooklyn. Officer Allen resides on Staten Island.

Officer Allen also saved the life of 37-year-old man who was found clinging to a piling floating 30 feet from shore in the East River on the night of August 3 last year. Allen swam to the victim in 25-foot deep water, placed a life ring around him and brought him 25 yards to a police harbor launch.

Police Officers Andrew J. Nugent and Gregg R. Matthius of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit responded to a call of a possible suicide in the East River at East 35th Street on June 3, last year. The two officers entered the 30-foot water and swam 25 yards upstream to where they found the victim struggling in the water about 75 feet from the bulkhead. The two officers pulled the man to safety on a nearby pier where he admitted he had been depressed and wanted to kill himself. The victim thanked the officers for saving his life, noting he had a change of heart and wanted to live. Officer Nugent lives in Wantagh, New York. Officer Matthius lives on Staten Island.

In a second incident, Matthius and Officer Joseph Wendler responded to a report of an emotionally disturbed man in the river under the Brooklyn Bridge. When they arrived, the two officers found a man in the water about 30 feet from the sea wall where local precinct officers told them the man had jumped into the water after throwing rocks and other debris and threatening to kill himself. Officer Matthius waded into the water to the victim who tried to elude the officer by swimming away and diving into the 57-degree water. Matthius grabbed the victim when he surfaced and was beginning to pull him to shore when the man renewed his efforts to break away. Officer Wendler entered the water in full uniform to help Matthius and they brought the victim to dry land where he was restrained and removed by ambulance for medical treatment and evaluation.

Police Officer Joseph Coppola of the NYPD Harbor Rescue Unit was in a police launch patrolling the East River near 34th Street on June 22 last year when a man was spotted in the 40-foot deep water shouting "Please help me. Don't let me die." Officer Coppola tossed a life ring to the man but as he pulled him toward the launch, the victim suddenly went limp and started to sink below the surface. Officer Coppola jumped into the five-knot current wearing only a life vest and with the victim about two feet underwater, pushed a life ring under his arms and brought him to the surface. Officer Coppola injured his right wrist, elbow and forearm in the rescue and was taken to Lutheran Hospital where he was treated and released. Officer Coppola lives in Wantagh, New York.

Officers Kevin R. Gallagher and Manuel A. Natera of the NYPD Harbor Unit Scuba Team were in Air/Sea Rescue Helicopter on the afternoon of June 27 last year when they received a report that two young women had plowed into a stanchion of the South Channel Bridge in Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn and were attempting to hang on to the sinking jet ski 100 yards from shore. While the helicopter hovered 10 feet overhead, the officers jumped into the water and swam against the current to the victims. Both of the women complained of leg cramps and one was in a state of panic. Each officer took hold of a victim and began swimming to shore. Operators of a private boat came to their aid and took the officers and the victims to a nearby dock where paramedics were waiting to care for them. Officer Gallagher lives in Irvington, New York. Officer Natera lives in Brooklyn.

The jet ski incident is one of two rescues for which Gallagher was cited last year. Two months later in August, he and Officer Frank P. Pellegrino of the Scuba Unit responded to a report of a capsized boat with four persons in rough seas near Romer Shoal off Sandy Hook. When they arrived, three men and a nine-year-old boy were clinging to the hull of a capsized 23-foot boat in extremely rough seas up to 15 feet deep. Officer Gallagher jumped from the helicopter and despite painful injuries to his back when he hit bottom, swam to the capsized boat with Officer Pellegrino. The pair immediately secured a life vest on the boy just as an eight-foot wave broke over the boat, sweeping the victims and their rescuers from the hull. The two men used a life jacket from a responding Coast Guard boat and a rescue raft dropped from the helicopter to get three of the victims to a police launch where they were taken aboard. Officer Pellegrino grabbed a life ring, put it on the fourth victim and swam him to the Coast Guard boat. Officer Pellegrino lives in Selden, New York.

Ronald Tougas, Sr., a 75-year-old civilian from Marlborough Massachusetts, was piling wood with a friend at the latter's home on the Schroen River in Chestertown, New York on May 10, 2000 when he saw what he thought was a large turtle approaching in the swift-moving 40-degree water. As it neared them, it became apparent it was a person's head, followed shortly by another person and an overturned boat. As the victims yelled for help, Tougas cut a rope attached to a nearby dock and encouraged the victims to try to move toward shore. Despite a heart condition, Tougas and his friend tossed the rope toward the first victim and, on their second attempt, were successful in reaching the 39-year-old victim. The pair then towed him to shore. Meanwhile, the second victim, a 36-year-old man, told the pair on shore that he was having difficulty holding on to the capsized boat.

Again Tougas and his friend ran along the shoreline until they had a vantage point near the victim and threw the rope. He grasped it and they pulled him to safety. Neither victim required medical treatment.

Officer Christopher Pena of the NYPD Emergency Service Squad 8, who played a key role in the rescue of an emotionally disturbed woman who leaped into the East River on October 21 of last year and two men who found themselves in trouble when they jumped in to rescue her. While officers on arriving harbor units attempted to remove the woman from the water, Pena and another officer realized the would-be rescuers were having trouble treading water in the cold temperature and swift current. Pena swam to the pair and helped them keep their heads above water while the other officer used a lifeline to tow them to a waiting harbor launch. Pena was then able to help other officers remove the woman in a basket to a waiting ambulance onshore. Officer Pena lives in Ronkonkoma, New York.

Officers William K. Burns, Jr. and Kevin Kenny of the NYPD Harbor Unit were aboard a launch conducting a routine security visit in the North River near the North Cove Marina when they spotted a distressed man in the water. Officer Burns made several attempts to rescue the 41-year-old man by throwing a life ring to him, but each effort was refused. Another officer was attempting to use the boat's pike pole when the man suddenly grabbed his chest and started to sink. Burns jumped into the 60-degree, 50-foot deep water and took hold of the victim who was by then two feet below the surface. Despite Burns' attempts to pull the victim to the launch, the man began to struggle in an effort to get free. Noting the strong outgoing current and boat traffic, Officer Kenny jumped in to help Burns and together the pair was able to bring the victim to the launch. Officer Burns lives in Queens and Officer Kenny lives in Brooklyn.

The Life Saving Benevolent Association (LSBA) was founded in 1849 by a special act of the New York Legislature to operate lifesaving stations on the coasts of New York and New Jersey and to reward acts of heroism at sea. The Association also encourages training in seamanship lifeboat work, water rescue methods and submersion victim resuscitation.

About The Atlantic Companies

The Atlantic Companies, also known as Atlantic Mutual, is a group of diversified financial services companies with a Wall Street heritage dating back to 1842. The group is widely known for the Atlantic Master Plan insurance program, which is designed specifically for affluent individuals and sold through a select group of independent agents. The Atlantic Companies acts as a property-casualty insurer, manages claims for commercial insurance, and helps other business partners target profitable niches in the insurance marketplace. Additional information about The Atlantic Companies and the Atlantic Master Plan can be found at www.atlanticmasterplan.com.


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