3 Swimmers Rescued From Bay On Long Island

Patchogue NY

25 July, 2021

1:25 PM

Description

BAYPORT, NY — Three swimmers who were in a Long Island bay for three hours, after drifting away from a boat, were brought to safety by a group of police officers early Sunday morning, Suffolk County police said. Michelle Fusco, 25, of Patchogue, called 911 at about 2 a.m., reporting that she was on a 22-foot Grady White boat in Great South Bay near Bayport "and three passengers were missing," police said. Fusco was found about one mile off Bayport by officers William Houst, John Mullins, and Steve Squires aboard Marine X-ray, according to police. Officers Shane Parker, Robert Mroczkowski, and Michael Haggerty, who were aboard Marine Kilo, searched the area, along with officers from the Aviation Section in a police helicopter, and found Michael Fusco, Toni Arango, and Leo Lopez-Garcia about one mile west of the boat in the water, police said. Only Lopez-Garcia was wearing a floatation device, according to police. Police could not immediately say if the three took turns sharing the device to stay afloat. Fusco, 33, of Patchogue, Arango 28, of North Massapequa, and Lopez-Garcia, 28, of Huntington Station, were taken on Marine Kilo and brought to shore near Brown's River Road in Sayville, police said. A police spokesman could not specifically say whether the three were pulled from the water or if they were able to get on the boat themselves. The three patients were treated and released by the Community Ambulance Company at Land's End Marina, said Jamie Atkinson, ambulance company president. Altogether, a total of four different agencies, including the police, the county's fire rescue, the Bayport Fire Department, and the United States Coat Guard, according to Atkinson.