A family and a crew of boaters were honored Friday after saving a steel worker’s life last year.
Back in July, a man working on the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Windsor, fell 140 feet into the river sustaining multiple life-threatening injuries.
A family in the park nearby happened to watch as the fall unfolded.
“We were just looking at the bridge, at the workers and how they were so small, and at that very moment a guy tumbled down in a cartwheel position and we were like Oh My God,” said Benita Flowers.
Flowers says she was in the park with her daughter and granddaughter at the time. She and her granddaughter ran toward the JW Wescott to alert the mariners.
“I was like somebody fell off the bridge! Somebody fell off the bridge,” said Tionne Bevelle as she recounted banging on the door of the JW Wescott with her grandmother that day.
The crew, inside the office at the time, says they were having a meeting at the time.
“We immediately didn’t even think about it. We sat our coffee down and three of us hopped on the first available boat that was here,” said Captain Sam Buchanan.”We practice for this all the time because we’re putting passengers on and off ships that are moving. So, if somebody was to fall off a ladder or find their way into the river some way we practice getting them out as fast as possible.”