Good Samaritan, police come to rescue of man in the Hudson River

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Police and a Good Samaritan sprang into action on Manhattan's West Side Tuesday morning to rescue a man from the Hudson River.

The NYPD said they responded to West 40th Street and 12th Avenue on a call of an EDP, or emotionally disturbed person, who had jumped into the water.

"I have to save him, do everything I can," said the Good Samaritan, Fred Grimaldi.

That, says Grimaldi, was his first reaction when one of his employees at City Sightseeing New York Pier 78 told him someone had either fallen or jumped into the Hudson River just before 11 a.m.

Another worker captured it all with his cellphone camera, video obtained exclusively by Eyewitness News, as Grimaldi ran to the pier next door, life ring in hand.

"And I dropped the ring like perfect strike, and I was screaming at him 'please grab the ring sir, grab the ring'".

But the man in the water didn't make a move to grab the preserver. He also seemed to ignore a second life ring dangled before him on a rope, despite frantic instructions from onlookers.

Within minutes, rescue boats arrived at the pier and took over. Officers finally succeeded in pulling the 34-year-old man from the frigid waters. He was immediately taken to a waiting ambulance and on to Bellevue Hospital.

"You just can't sit back and wait for the next guy, that's not my personality. That's the type of guy I am," said Grimaldi.