On December 31, while most Long Islanders were preparing to ring in the new year, Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers rescued a man who had fallen into the water at the Fire Island Pines Marina.
According to a police report, Vincenzo Peppe, 69, was working on a boat when he fell into the marina at approximately 6:15pm. Marine Bureau officers, responding to a call 911 from a local resident, located the man struggling to get out of the water. A group of people on the dock had extended a rope to Peppe, but he was unable to pull himself from the freezing waters.
Officers Terence McGovern, Charles Marchiselli, and George Schmidt onboard Marine Kilo maneuvered their patrol boat toward Peppe and all three pulled him aboard.
Peppe, of Hampton Bays, was transported to South Side hospital for treatment of hypothermia.