Seth Rems. / Photo credit: NVP.
(Chicago) A man was pulled from the Chicago River early Wednesday in the Near West Side neighborhood after a local resident threw a life preserver to keep him afloat until rescue crews arrived.
Seth Rems was walking home across the bridge near Randolph and Canal about 1 a.m. when he heard cries for help from a man across the street that someone had just jumped into the Chicago River.
Rems told reporters at the scene that he knew where to find the life preserver vests as he walks past them every night on his way home.
“I had to find a piece of concrete to shatter it,” Rems said on breaking open the glass that seals the life preserver. “It does not break easy.”
Rems added that a cab driver and another man were “pivotal” in rescuing the man.
“They were with him the whole time,” he said.
On throwing the life preserver vest Rems said, “It was a good shot. I know it is cold right now down there.”
The man was alive when scuba divers from the Chicago Fire Department pulled him out and he was taken to Stroger Hospital where his condition stabilized, police and officials at the scene said.
Police added the incident was an attempted suicide.
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