Fallsburg, NY – Morningside Park Manager Henry Lesczynski has worked there for 20 years — and for all those years he’s feared somebody would get hit by lightning on the lake.
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He never kept his worry a secret. His workers kidded him about it, called him paranoid because it had never happened before. But after Sunday’s incident, (which was first reported here by VIN News), in which two people were seriously injured by a lightning strike while on the water, nobody is laughing at him now.
“I think everybody got a good eye-opening,” Lesczynski said. “It can happen.”
Laya Feiner, 23, of Lakewood, N.J., and her would-be rescuer, Devin Corbett, 20, of Loch Sheldrake, a park employee, were in stable condition Monday at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, police say.
Feiner’s condition improved overnight. She remains in critical-but-stable condition, Fallsburg police say. Corbett’s condition had also improved. The lightning strike partially blinded him; as of Sunday night, his vision was better, he was alert and stable and was expected to be discharged, police say.
According to park management, the events started around 3:15 p.m. as a thunderstorm approached. The town park rents four-seat rowboats, and the entire fleet of 22 was on the lake.
With darkening weather and rumbling thunder, the park set off a siren to alert boaters. The boats weren’t coming in fast enough, so lifeguards shouted into bullhorns to urge them in quickly.
Twenty of the boats got to shore safely, but one was obviously having trouble — Feiner’s boat was doing circles about 50 feet from shore. She was in the boat with a small child and a man. Another man was paddling a second boat to shore nearby.
A woman who knew Feiner’s party asked park employee Corbett to help them. He paddled out with the woman. They reached the boat and the toddler was passed over.
Immediately after the child was put in Corbett’s rescue boat, the sky exploded like a camera flash, square in their eyes.
Corbett collapsed in one boat. Feiner fell in the other boat.
The woman who went with Corbett to assist Feiner’s group jumped into the water only a few feet from shore and carried the child in safely.
A man pushed to shore the two boats in which Corbett and Feiner were lying.
Feiner wasn’t breathing. Corbett was breathing with trouble. Their faces were purple.
Lifeguards Kristen Sarno, Kayla Sunnekalb and Joseph Drobysh gave them CPR and got them breathing before paramedics arrived. Feiner and Corbett were taken to Catskill Regional Medical Center and later to Westchester Medical Center.
He was proud of his lifeguards, who probably saved two lives. He was annoyed that boats didn’t come in quickly with the first siren blast.
“Nobody wanted to get off the lake,” he said.
Read morein Times Herald-Record
How about the Yidden showing some appreciation to this righteous gentile that risked his life for this madele.
kol hakavod to the rescuers. you saved lives and you saved the world.
shame on the yidden who did not come in. the one woman was obviously having trouble with her boat, but the others were probably just anarchists. let this be a lesson to us all.
G-d bless the lifeguards and the employees. wonderful professionals.
Henry Lesczynski is a real “MENTCH”, I’ve met him a few times at Morningside Park.
He’s very acomadating. He opened a kosher food stand at the park.They are building a large covered picnic area for everybody to use and enjoy iy”h.
We should all learn from this Gentile. He risked his life to save a person, without thinking, “is the victim a Yid or A Non-Yid”.
ActualJew & Binderdundat,
Real Frum Jews do not deliberately put themselves in places where people of the Jewish or Non-Jewish persuasions are likely to go dressed, or more correctly, undressed, in a fashion that is prohibited by every single posek that ever lived, not to mention a few p’sukim as well as poskim.
“kol hakavod to the rescuers. you saved lives and you saved the world.”
Yes that is correct and kudos to every helped.
“Shame on the yidden who did not come in.”
It is probably a bigger shmae that they where theew in the first place. Shulchan Aruch does not go on vacation in the summer, just because you do.
To all of U with your silly commends.Y aren’t u mentioning that yidden Hatzoloh showed up to help the jewish women as well as the non jew.how many times do we aid and respond to ppl not from the community. instead of bashing the yidden all the time think positive for a change.N’to#7 U should really Find a new posek cause there’s nothing wrong going to monningside park row boating u sound depressed enough without it.its not against the shichon urech to go a little with the Mishpuche U might need sunglasses