17-year-old diving into Long Island Bay, rescues classmate who went into the water

PATCHOG, Long Island (WABC) — A 17-year-old is being greeted as a hero by a dove in the Bay of Long Island for rescuing an 18-year-old classmate who went into the water Tuesday night.

It happened just after 10 p.m. in Patchogue Bay near South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue.

Police say Mia Samolinski was driving a Subaru Outback in the parking lot when she stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake and went into the water.

Anthony Zhongor, a Good Samaritan, witnessed the incident and plunged into the water.

“She went very deep there,” said Zhongor. “She was banging on the door, banging on the window, trying to break the window, and so I panicked, scared for her, so I took off my clothes and went into the water.”

He swam to the car, but with no time, he had to figure out how to get Samolinsky out of the vehicle.

“The dive was too far because it was there, I grabbed the door handle as soon as I looked up,” he said.

The two of them tried to try and open the door, but with no luck, he said that he would have to find another way.

That’s when he realized he could use his own weight.

“My weight pushed the nose of the car deeper into the water, which helped free the back,” he said. “And we opened the back up, and she was able to escape from behind.”

They swam to the shore together.

“She just came up to me and said, ‘Oh my god, thank you’ and was crying,” he said. “It didn’t matter who he was, they were suffering. I couldn’t see anyone suffering in front of me.”

Samolinsky’s father, Charles, met Samolinsky on Wednesday.

“He jumped out of his car and jumped in, and because of that, my daughter is alive and there’s really no harm done,” he said. “It’s a miracle.”

Samolinsky and Zhongor, both of Patchog, were not injured. It turns out that they both attend Patchogue Medford High School, but they didn’t know they were classmates.

The car was pulled out of the bay by a heavy duty wrecker.

Zhongor, who graduates next week, recently joined the Marines and will go to boot camp in South Carolina in September.

Read also | Experts urge swimming lessons, water safety to save children from drowning

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