OCEAN CITY – Two New York men had to be rescued from the waters around the resort area last weekend after one was injured in a jet ski accident and another later toppled into the water while responding to help the first victim, his brother-in-law, at the commercial harbor in West Ocean City.
The bizarre sequence of events started last Sunday evening around 5 p.m. when Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) responded to an area of the Sinepuxent Bay about two miles south of Ocean City for a report of an individual with a medical emergency who fell off a personal water craft and into the water. NRP Cpl. Karl Christensen arrived on scene and found the victim, later identified as Freddy Arturo Uzcha, 27, of Corona, N.Y., unconscious in the water.
Two private citizens were helping Uzcha at the time and Christensen took over and pulled the victim onto his patrol vessel. In the meantime, a Coast Guard medic arrived on the scene and provided first aid to the victim while en route to the West Ocean City commercial harbor where paramedics were waiting. Once at the harbor, Uzcha was treated on the scene by Ocean City EMS. He was later transported to PRMC in Salisbury where he remained hospitalized as of yesterday.
Meanwhile, Uzcha’s brother-in-law, later identified as Carlos Rafael Guallpa, also of Corona, N.Y., followed the victim to the commercial harbor where emergency medical services awaited. While at the harbor attending to his brother-in-law, Guallpa had a medical emergency of his own, became incapacitated and fell into the water.
Off-duty NRP Officer Pat Thompsen, who had arrived on the scene to assist with Uzcha’s emergency, dove into the water and pulled the incapacitated Guallpa to safety. Guallpa was then treated at the scene by Ocean City paramedics and later released.