Birdwatcher Rescued From Deep Mudhole
CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) - At least she got to see a couple of great
blue herons. Joan Indusi, a 52-year-old schoolteacher, got stuck in a
mudhole on the Hudson River shoreline for more than an hour Tuesday when
she left a footpath in Croton Point Park in search of feathered friends.
``I never believed you could get stuck to the point where you literally
could not move,'' she said Wednesday, ``but I was up to my knees and I
was trying to lift my leg up and I couldn't.''
She struggled for an hour ``and then I realized I was going to need
help,'' she said.
Luckily, she was carrying a cell phone along with her birding binoculars
and was able to call police. She was unable to tell the officers exactly
where she was, however, so they drove to the park and sounded a siren
periodically. She would then tell them if they were getting closer or
farther away.
``I was fortunate in that I had a good connection,'' she said.
Indusi said she never became frightened ``because I knew what my options
were and the tide was out so I had hours before the tide would come in.
I think I probably could have gotten out on my own but it would have
been a big struggle and it could have taken a long time.''
She also thought she might come across another mudhole ``maybe in the
middle of some 12-foot-tall reeds, and no one would find me there.''
Indusi was finally located by Westchester County police and Croton
police, who sent her to Phelps Memorial Hospital Center for a once-over
and a tetanus shot. She was working on curriculum plans on Wednesday.
Indusi said she showed ``very poor judgment'' in leaving the footpath
and added, ``Croton Point Park is a beautiful, safe park, very
nature-friendly. I don't want people to think they're going to fall into
quicksand or something.''
07/21/04 20:59
© Copyright The Associated Press.
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Mr. Scott Mewborn
TV Teacher
Center for Communications
Varina High School
Henrico County Public Schools
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