A couple jump to save a man after a motorized scooter falls into the water

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Quick action by two men helped avert tragedy after an elderly man on a motorized scooter fell into the water off Blockhouse Island in Brockville on Saturday, police said.

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A Quebec boater and a diving instructor from Ottawa entered the water to help the man after he fell into the water shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday.

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“They just didn’t hesitate,” the Brockville police Sgt. Mike Grant, adding that the elderly victim escaped unharmed.

City police were called to the walkway on the south side of the harbor entrance, at the western end of Blockhouse Island, just before 3 p.m. after the man in the mobility device fell.

“It looks like it just got caught on a wheel, maybe, is my theory, and it just dragged it into the water,” Grant said.

The sergeant noted that while the man’s motorized wheelchair was equipped with a seat belt, the man was not wearing one, a decision that likely saved his life.

The chair, Grant noted, was very heavy and sank rapidly; a clipped belt “would probably have supported him in the water.”
The top of the man’s chair, a foam-backed seat, separated from the rest and helped keep him afloat, Grant added.

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Police did not identify the man, but said he is a resident of Brockville’s Wedgewood retirement home.

Richard Massicotte, from Chambly, QC, was on his boat docked at the Tall Ships Landing marina.

“I heard a big splash and got up,” he said.

He saw that a man had fallen into the water and people were looking down at him, not knowing what to do. Apparently, one of the bystanders had thrown a life preserver at the man with a rope.

Massicotte, 62, stripped to his underwear and waded into the water, crossing the harbor to help the man.

“The water wasn’t too cold.”

Massicotte said he stayed with the man in the water to comfort him, but the mooring wall on the south side of the harbor has no ladder or other means of getting out. He said another man joined him and together they swam across the harbor to the side of Tall Ships Landing.
That other man was Hubert Chrétien, 57, of Ottawa, who runs a charity called Freedom at Depth, which provides open-water scuba training to people with disabilities and holds courses regularly in Brockville.

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Chrétien had just docked a boat at Tall Ships Landing when he felt the commotion and realized there was a man in the water. He jumped down to join the other man in rescuing him.

Both men said the victim was calm and talkative during the ordeal.

“He said he used to be a good swimmer,” Chrétien added.

Police and firefighters were waiting at the Tall Ships Landing marina when they reached the other side, which is equipped with ladders, he added.

Chrétien fully agreed with the sergeant on the seatbelt issue, adding that he tells his clients in wheelchairs not to wear it around water.

Chrétien praised the Tall Ships Landing staff for their assistance in the incident and criticized the city for having no obvious means of getting the water out on the south side of the port.

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He planned to return to the port on Monday with a lift bag to try to get the motorized scooter out of the water, though he is not sure if the vehicle will be repairable.

Grant said police and the two Good Samaritans found a chair for the victim once he was out of the water. Paramedics evaluated the man, who agreed to be taken to Brockville General Hospital as a precaution.

“He was very communicative. He was in a good mood, considering the event,” Grant said.

Grant did not comment on the need for stairs on the south wall of the harbor, adding that the place is used to dock ships.

He called the two men “heroes” and said their quick action prevented the tragedy.

Chrétien, for his part, added: “The person who saved his life was the person who sent him a lifeline.”

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