ASBURY PARK – Former Bayonne Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell and his co-worker Vincent Cinello saved the life of a woman drowning in Wesley Lake here on May 3.
The men were in the conference room of their Asbury Park office when they saw a woman floundering in the frigid waters of the lake, a narrow but deep body of water separating the city from the village of Ocean Grove.
A retired Bayonne fire fighter, O’Donnell and Cinello managed to pull the woman, who couldn’t swim, from the frigid waters.
O’Donnell was the only one with CPR training. Instinct kicked in and he attempted to revive the woman.
According to a report from the Neptune Township Office of Emergency Management, O’Donnell’s CPR restored the woman’s ability to breath.
“Emergency services had simultaneously arrived on-scene to render aid, and transported her to the hospital where she remains in stable condition,” OEM said. She regained consciousness at the hospital.
OEM commended O’Donnell and the others for their effort, noting that they had saved the woman’s life.
“In the span of a couple minutes, they witnessed the fall, called 9-1-1, ran to the victim, jumped into the freezing water to pull her out and perform lifesaving CPR,” the report said. “These everyday heroes were more than willing to stop what they were doing and put themselves in harm’s way for someone they had never met.” – Al Sullivan
For the full story, read this weekend’s Jersey City Reporter or next week’s Bayonne Community News