BOSTON (WHDH) - A mother says she is thankful that two assistant coaches with the Northeastern University rowing team came to the rescue of her son whose car veered off a bridge and into the Charles River on Monday night.
Alison Carr was in Rhode Island when she learned that her son, 23-year-old Nathan Santerre, had been in an accident.
“I just dropped everything and left for Boston as soon as I found out,” she recalled.
Carr says her son had felt himself fainting before he blacked out behind the wheel and woke up in the water.
Luckily, Northeastern University rowing assistant coach Trevor Appier and volunteer assistant coach Beatrice Sims happened to be in a nearby crew boat and pulled Santerre out of the water and into their boat.
“When I saw him sort of clinging to the side of his window, we knew we could just kind of get up next to him,” Appier said.
The rowing team assistant coaches brought Santerre to shore.
“We are really grateful to those people who were around and noticed and were there to help out,” Carr said. “He knew he was okay when he got in the boat. It was really nice and it made him feel safer.”
Santerre is said to be doing OK, an outcome Carr considers a miracle.
“My son is everything to me,” she added. “Obviously, he’s very traumatized by this event but it definitely could have had a tragic ending and we’re just grateful he’s here with us still.”
Carr says they are trying to figure out exactly what caused her son to faint while driving.
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