Carnegie Hero Jason P. Maxwell, a 43-year-old vessel operations manager of Maple Valley, Wash., on Aug. 13, 2018, entered deep, cold water at a Seattle dock to save a crewman who was floating face-down in the water near a large cargo ship.
Maxwell jumped from the dock, which was 15 feet above the surface of the 59-degree water. He swam about 150 feet to the man, who had submerged in the 50-foot-deep water. Maxwell then submerged and swam to him at a point about 10 feet below the water’s surface. Grasping the man’s coveralls, Maxwell pulled him to the surface and holding his head above the water, towed him with difficulty to a life ring that a bystander had thrown to a point about 75 feet from the dock. At the life ring, Maxwell supported himself and the man in the water.
A diving salvage boat then arrived and its two-man crew assisted Maxwell and the man from the water. The crew performed CPR on the man, who was by then unconscious, as Maxwell lay on the deck, nearly exhausted. They both recovered.
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