O&R Father and Son Rescue Bridge Jumper, Continue Family Tradition of Service

Orange and Rockland Media Relations
Pearl RIver – December 14, 2020

In his 13 years as a volunteer fire fighter, Piermont Fire Chief and O&R Overhead Line Technician Daniel Goswick Jr. has seen only three people jump off the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and survive. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Daniel and his father, O&R Operating Supervisor and fellow Piermont firefighter, Daniel Goswick Sr., that number is now four.

On Monday morning (December 7), the Piermont Fire Department received a dispatch reporting that an unidentified woman had climbed the suicide prevention gates mid-span on the Cuomo Bridge, and jumped, plunging some 200 feet into the icy Hudson River waters below.

Within 10 minutes, Chief Goswick, who was on a day off from his O&R job and his father who works nights at O&R, joined three other Piermont volunteers in the fire department boat, ‘13-Marine 2’, racing up the Hudson toward the bridge. Speeding northbound in the channel approximately one mile from the Piermont Pier, one of the divers on board spotted what appeared to be a woman in the water struggling to stay afloat.

“We saw the top of her head bobbing in the water. She was within seconds of going under and potentially drowning,” said Chief Goswick, who is also a certified diver and emergency medical technician. “We weren’t expecting to find her alive,” he said.

Chief Goswick, with the assistance of two other divers, went into the frigid water and secured the woman – hauling her onto the boat and into safety. The crew immediately began checking her for injuries, ensuring that she remained conscious. With Goswick Sr. at the helm, the boat quickly made its way dockside where the woman was loaded into an awaiting ambulance. She was transferred for treatment from Nyack Hospital to Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla.

Between the two Goswicks, there are a combined 46 years of experience in the fire department. And during that time there has been no shortage of heroism. Just last year Chief Goswick was recognized by O&R with a company safety award for his actions that saved the life of a two-year old child.

The Goswicks are an O&R family of fire chiefs. In addition to his father, Daniel Sr., both of Chief Goswick’s grandfathers, William Goswick and Leroy Lynch, were O&R employees and Piermont fire chiefs. William Goswick also served as Piermont’s mayor.

“It feels good to save someone, but for me it’s just another day. I’m doing the job that I signed up for and I’m happy to do it,” said Chief Goswick.