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An off-duty cop fishing in the ocean about 80 miles away from the Shinnecock Inlet helped rescue an East Patchogue boater who had punctured both of his legs with a fishhook while trying to catch a yellow fin tuna.
Suffolk County Police Second Precinct Officer William Parmenter heard a mayday call come over his marine radio about 2 p.m. Wednesday concerning the injured man, Norma Orsinger, 66, who was suffering from rapid blood loss.
Parmenter, who is a paramedic, immediately jumped into action, locating and boarding Orsinger’s boat after contacting the man’s boat via radio. He applied tourniquets to both legs and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and the Suffolk County Police Department Aviation Section.
A Coast Guard helicopter located the man’s boat in the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles south of Hampton Bays, and airlifted Orsinger to Long Island MacArthur Airport. Orsinger was then flown via Suffolk police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was treated and released.
