Working out on a New York pier over the East River, Jameson Lobb and Raphael Jafri responded to shouts of help from a bystander who noticed a 54-year-old man floating motionless in the river on Oct. 4, 2021. Lobb, a 24-year-old banking analyst of New York, jumped into the river fully clothed and swam to the man as he submerged. Reaching him, Lobb submerged, grasped him and brought him to the surface of the water. By then, Jafri, 24, a machine learning support engineer also of New York, arrived and Lobb positioned the man on Jafri’s chest. With Jafri grasping his upper body and Lobb holding to his legs they swam him at least 100 feet to a pier. While Jafri held the man to the pier’s barnacle-covered fender, Lobb climbed onto a beam and together they used a rope and a life ring to secure the man’s head above the surface of the water as he regained consciousness. Bystanders had gathered on the pier and helped Lobb and Jafri lift the man onto the pier. Lobb climbed onto the pier and, nearly exhausted, Jafri remained in the river until a police boat arrived. Lobb and Jafri suffered cuts on their arms and went to the hospital to get checked out.
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