Mysterious stranger or an angel from Heaven?
I’ll tell what.
This is a wonderful story on the eve of Easter. I believe in a God in Heaven, so I’m going with an angel giving a helping hand.
Miracles happen everyday if you just pay attention.
From New York Post:
A 2-year-old toddler fell into the East River at the South Street Seaport this afternoon and was miraculously saved by her father and a mystery Frenchman who dove in after her.
The girl, whose name is unknown at this time, was walking with her father and another child up the ramp to the tall-mast Peking ship docked at the South Street Seaport when she fell about 15 feet into the river below.
Her father, who is from California, and another man jumped in after her. The two quickly grabbed the child and brought her to safety.
The father and child were rushed by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital at 5 p.m., where she is in “good shape, considering,” said a police source.
The mystery Frenchman hopped in a cab and left the scene.
The whole incident lasted about 15 seconds, the cop said.
UPDATE: But the girl's mother said she hopes to thank him in person.
"I'd like to offer him my congratulations and my best wishes, and I'd like to talk to him privately to convey the same message," said the mother, who declined to reveal her name.
UPDATE: The heroic dad who jumped into the dark waters of the East River to rescue his 2-year-old daughter said today he got an early Easter "miracle" after he thought she was going to drown.
David Anderson recalled today his 2-year-old daughter, Bridget Sheridan, falling off a pier near the South Street Seaport Saturday.
"It's like you go into a Twilight Zone," he told The Post. "Time didn't slow down, but it was like, 'I can't believe this is happening."
Anderson noticed his daughter missing after he took a quick picture of her on the stairs of the Peking, a large ship docked at the port. He looked down and she was gone.
"I saw these triangular holes and I thought, 'You know, she might go through that,'" he said. "But I was like, 'She's right in front of me.'"
The ramp leading to the Peking is about 20 to 30 feet above the water, he said.
"I put my bag down and took my camera out," said Anderson. "And I turn around and she's walking up the five steps."
Anderson thought the photo with the large masts in the background and his blonde daughter climbing the steps would make for a good picture, so he snapped a photo.
He examined the picture on his digital camera and noticed it "wasn't very good" and deleted it.
In the span of 10 seconds, he said, she was gone after falling into the water.
"I panicked," he said. "I was like, 'wait a minute, she's not here.'"
He looked down the steps to see if she walked off, but nothing. He didn't hear a splash, but expecting the worst, looked into the water, and saw his daughter floating on her back.
"I thought, God, she must have hit her head," he said. "She was lying there motionless. I thought I might have just lost my little girl. There were 15 people walking up the ramp and I just broke through them like they weren't there."
Anderson, who is unemployed, used to work as a ski patrolman.
As soon as Anderson made it to the base of the steps, he jumped from the 8-foot pier and joined an unidentified Frenchman already in the water.
"It was a miracle," he said of the Good Samaritan. "He just appears out of nowhere. It makes you wonder if there are angels on Earth."
Anderson said his daughter began to cry when the two reached her. He said he and the Frenchman managed to lift the soaked girl to five people on the pier.
Eventually, Anderson grasped on to cords and pulled himself high enough where people could reach him.
"I just ran over to see how my daughter was and she was just shaken up and crying," he said.
An ambulance arrived within minutes and took the two to Bellevue Hospital for observation, where the girl's mother was called.
"Let's just say, I don't think anyone ever got to the hospital so fast," said Anderson. "It was a very emotional reunion."
"You feel guilty as a parent to let something like this happen to your child," he said. "It's like, I shouldn't have taken my eyes off her even for 10 seconds."
Anderson called this Easter his most blessed.
"It's a miracle I have my daughter," he said.
On Easter, the family went to church and visited the cemetery where Bridget's grandmother, whom Bridget is named after is buried.
"I saw her grave, and just thought, 'Thank God there's only one Bridget here.
The Last Tradition
Frenchman located by the New York Daily News Click here
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