Raphael Jafri helped save a man from drowning, New York, New York, October 4, 2021. As a middle-aged man floated motionless in the East River between two piers at a popular waterfront overlook, a bystander on the pier nearest the man called for help. Alerted on the opposite pier was Jafri, 24, machine learning support engineer, who was exercising with his friend. Jafri removed his shoes, climbed over a railing, dived into the cold river, and swam toward the man’s location, following his friend, who submerged and resurfaced with the man. Reaching them, Jafri positioned the man, who appeared to be unconscious, face up on his chest and grasped him with one arm while the friend held the man’s legs. Jafri, using his free arm, and the friend then swam the man at least 100 feet back to the wooden, barnacle-covered fender of the far pier, where they had entered the water. While Jafri held the man to the fender about 8 feet below the pier’s deck, the friend climbed onto a beam, and they used a rope and life ring lowered by others to secure the man as he became responsive. With help from Jafri and the friend, bystanders then lifted the man onto the pier. Arriving first-responders tended to the man, who was taken to a hospital. Nearly exhausted, Jafri, who suffered cuts on his arms, remained in the river until the arrival of a police boat. He ultimately went to a hospital for precautionary treatment.
