Two men are being recognized for saving the lives of a young girl and her father after a boating accident. They came to the aid of 8-year-old Kaelynne Driscoll and her father Christopher, who were injured while tubing on Skaneateles Lake. As Erin Bischoff explains, the men say they were simply following their instincts.
SKANEATELES, N.Y. -- July 6 is a day that Eric Marcinkowski and David Goetzmann will never forget. They were boating on Skaneateles Lake when 8-year-old Kaelynne Driscoll and her father, Christopher, were struck and seriously injured in a tubing accident.
"I was on the back of the boat and heard them and I was like I don't think that sounded like a fun scream, that sounded like a terror scream,” said Dave Goetzmann, a Civilian Recognition Award recipient.
The men lifted Kaelynne and her father out of the water and brought them to the boat launch for medical attention.
"It was just a horrible chaotic scene, we didn't really have time to think, we just reacted,” said Eric Marcinkowski, the other Civilian Recognition Award recipient.
They were simply in the right place at the right time. Now three months after the accident, the men are being recognized for their bravery that day. The pair received the Civilian Recognition Award from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department Tuesday night.
"They literally saved two individuals lives by taking action in and of themselves and responding over to where they heard calls for help. Arriving at the scene, seeing what they were presented with and then taking those actions right there in the water and saving those two lives. It's truly amazing,” said Onondaga County Sheriff Gene Conway.
But Marcinkowski and Goetzmann say anybody would have acted the same way, if they were in the situation.
"It's something to see, this sort of support for us, when we feel we didn't do anything above and beyond,” he said.
Conway says their response that day speaks volumes about their character.
"They are truly caring individuals because so many other people would have gone the other way on their own boat, may have responded to the scene and passed out from the scene,” Conway said.
The men hope the situation sends a message to other people, to be safe while boating on the lake.