Joseph Gerard Brisson helped to save Cornell E. Taylor from drowning, Chesapeake, Virginia, December 22, 1996. Taylor, 43, was working on an interstate highway bridge when, as the result of a vehicular accident, he was knocked into the Elizabeth River 65 feet below. Brisson, 36, captain of a tugboat that had taken a barge to the work site, saw Taylor fall. He immediately ran to a point on the barge opposite Taylor, then, removing only his shoes, jumped nine feet into the river despite a water temperature of 45 degrees and an air temperature in the 20s. Brisson swam to Taylor, who, severely injured, had submerged. He grasped Taylor, pulled his head above the water, and held to him for several minutes as they awaited help. Other site workmen took a motorized skiff to them and hauled them aboard, then took them to shore. Taylor was hospitalized for treatment of partially disabling injury, and Brisson received hospital treatment for hypothermia, from which he recovered.
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