‘Right place at the right time’: Officer on patrol helps rescue 2 swimmers from lake in Chelmsford

CHELMSFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A police officer on patrol helped rescue two distressed swimmers from a lake in Chelmsford on Sunday.

Officer Derek Hill was conducting routine patrols in the area of Varney playground and beach on Adams Street around 4:30 p.m. when he heard yelling and some sort of disturbance coming from the shore of Freeman Lake, according to Chelmsford police.

He then saw a female pointing at the water as she frantically yelled that someone was drowning.

Hill made his way to the shore and saw multiple people flailing in the water about 30 to 35 feet from the shore.

He radioed dispatch to request additional units along with a medical response.

At that time, swimmers in the area helped bring one of the swimmers to shore while another swimmer, identified as the first swimmer’s brother, was seen bobbing up and down in the water with his arms flailing while he called for help, police said.

Hill entered the water with a plastic float and swam about 40 feet offshore to the swimmer in distress.

With the help of a bystander, hill lifted the swimmer’s upper body onto the float and pulled him to shore.

The swimmer reportedly said that he was feeling dizzy and had swallowed a lot of water.

Officer Keith Leczynski arrived on scene and assisted with keeping both swimmers alert and upright before paramedics responded.

They were transported to Lowell General Hospital for a further evaluation.

Officers spoke with both swimmers and their mother and learned that one of the swimmers had attempted to swim after a plastic float that had blown away in the wind, and when he could no longer touch the bottom, he began to panic, police said.

His brother then swam out after him.

“Officer Hill showed quick thinking and decisive action during this rescue and he should be commended for immediately taking control of the situation in the way he did,” Chelmsford Police Chief Spinney said. “Every second counts in a drowning scenario, and this type of reaction illustrates the training our officers undergo. We are so fortunate that Officer Hill was in the right place at the right time, and that tragedy was avoided. We also would like to thank the bystanders who took action as well and assisted in the rescue.”

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