Chris and his wife, Cristina Cuomo, were boating with their children in the Peconic River near Shelter Island’s Sunset Beach on Aug. 16, reports Page Six of the New York Post. While his boat was anchored out in the water, Chris saw an unnamed man being pulled by a strong current. After Chris threw the drowning man a life preserver, he jumped in and began swimming after him!
“It was happening to fast to untie the boat and start the engine,” Frank Cilione, managing partner of Philippe East Hampton told Page Six. He was there and witnessed the whole event. “We saw [the man] floating by in what looked like a very strong, fast current, and Chris began yelling at the man to swim out of it at the angle.” Good idea! However, the man was too tired to move his arms and Frank said that his head was “barely above the water.”
Chris then dove in and swam a reported 500 to 600 feet to catch up to the man. The unnamed victim was still too weak to swim, so Chris dragged him safely to shore. “If he hadn’t done this,” Frank said, “the man would surely have drowned.”
A police boat then came by after they were flagged down by frantic boaters. Frank said that the police didn’t know who Chris was, but told him that “‘You saved this guy. That was heroic.'” Shelter Island Police Chief James J. Read confirmed the story with PageSix, proving that Chris really did save a man from drowning! Amazing!
It’s unlikely that Chris’s brother, Andrew, will throw him a parade for that daring rescue, but it sounds like the modest Chris wouldn’t want it. Either way, he’s a hero to us (and to the man whose life he saved!)
What do you think about Chris saving a drowning man’s life, HollywoodLifers? Incredible, right?
— Jason Brow