A NYPD officer, who is part of the departmental swim team, is crediting her skills in the water for helping her save a woman from drowning in the Central Park Reservoir last week.
Newly released video of the heroic act reminds Officer Emily Healy how things could have gone badly fast the day she jumped into the water to save a woman.
Healy and Sgt. Matthew Moschetto rescued the woman April 12 after she went swimming in the reservoir. The two were on patrol and when they got to the northern end of the reservoir, a person flagged them down saying a woman was in the water. She was about 15 yards out, fully dressed, and wearing a red hat.
"We tried to call her back on to shore, ‘like hey come back,’ communicate with her, see if she could get back herself, when that wasn't an option she said she didn't know how," Healy tells ABC7.
Healy said the woman’s clothing in some way had become a floatation device, but then she noticed the woman’s head starting to dip beneath the surface of the water, so the officer sprang into action, swimming out to save the woman.
"I swam in high school and college and competed year-round for that, so while it wasn't the warmest pool I've ever been in, it's good, and it was nice to say I have the skill set to go help this woman," Healy says.
