Personal Lives
Manhattan Lawyer Jumps in Chilly Water to Help Rescue Fisherman
Posted Oct 26, 2009, 06:43 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Manhattan lawyer jumped into the chilly waters off Moriches Inlet on Thursday to help rescue a fisherman who had fallen from his boat.
Lawyer Jonathan Pearlroth, 49, jumped into the water to rescue John Signer, a former New York correction officer who fell overboard about a mile offshore while trying to untangle a fishing line, Newsday reports. Signer had drifted in the water for an hour. He was in the hospital on Friday being treated for hypothermia when the newspaper published its story.
Pearlroth was working on a fence outside his Westhampton Beach home when he heard a noise, according to Newsday. "I heard a scream, but I thought it was a bird until my neighbor said there was a guy way, way out there," he told the newspaper.
Pearlroth grabbed a loose boat bumper to use for flotation, and swam through the waves to reach Signer, the story says. Both men clung to the bumper for about 20 minutes until a towboat captain was able to secure his boat and get them on board, the story says.
The Town & Country Real Estate website describes Pearlroth as owner of the “famous double-diamond oceanfront house on Dune Road.” The lawyer sent the Newsday story to Town & Country, writing, “On Thursday, Oct. 22, I had one of the most adrenaline-fueled and humbling days of my life.”
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