{"id":976738,"date":"2026-08-03T00:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976738\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T00:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:07:30","slug":"quick-thinking-steakhouse-owner-rushes-to-save-woman-in-distress-in-east-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976738\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick-thinking steakhouse owner rushes to save woman in distress in East River"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owner of a gourmet restaurant in Manhattan never expected to become part of a rescue story<\/a>, but that is exactly what happened when he helped bring a distressed woman to safety who had almost drowned in the East River on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Agron Selimaj, 46, owner of Club A Steakhouse<\/a> in Midtown, had just dropped his son off for soccer practice at Field 82 on Randall\u2019s Island at around 10 a.m. on July 29 when the incident unfolded. His wife and daughter accompanied him on the ride, but were in a different part of the island when he suddenly heard piercing screams for help coming from the river.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the soccer field relatively close to the water, a woman holding on to a rocky edge along the East River spotted Selimaj from afar and pleaded for help. He rushed toward the water, where he saw the woman holding on for life, struggling to stay above the water\u2019s surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"peopleThe owner of a gourmet restaurant in Manhattan never expected to become part of a rescue story, but that is exactly what happened when he helped bring a woman to safety who almost drowned in the East River on Thursday.\u00a0Photo by Fjolla Sheholli<\/p>\n

He immediately sprang into action, knowing the woman could be swept away by the river\u2019s notoriously strong currents at any time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took my keys, my wallet, my phone and threw them on the ground,\u201d Selimaj said, adding that he was prepared to jump into the water if need be. \u201cI started walking as fast as I could toward her. I\u2019m walking along the edge, making sure she\u2019s not actually drowning at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selimaj\u2019s wife was now in the area and immediately called 911. In the meantime, he went down on the ground to hold on to the mostly submerged woman, ready to pull her to safety, but she was too afraid to let go of the edge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Selimaj repeatedly asked the woman to let him pull her up, but she was still too fearful to let go. He offered her comfort and tried to calm her down, all the while holding her tightly as they waited for help from emergency personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"firstAgron Selimaj helps FDNY members rescue a woman from the East River.Photo by Fjolla Sheholli<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole time, I\u2019m just trying to calm her down, asking her what her name is, where she lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Soon, other good Samaritans arrived to assist Selimaj in rescuing and comforting the woman.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

She told Selimaj she usually walks her dog on Randall\u2019s Island, but this time she went by herself. She could not remember how she fell into the water or even how long she was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept telling her, \u2018don\u2019t worry [her first name], help is on the way,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re here for you. Right now you\u2019re stable.\u2019 She said she couldn\u2019t swim and she was scared and tired and cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments later, first responders from the FDNY and NYC Parks Department arrived. As Selimaj and other rescue workers worked to bring the frightened woman to shore, an FDNY member entered the river with a ladder to help guide her onto land.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rescue workers brought the woman to a nearby bench for evaluation. amNewYork contacted the FDNY to ask about the woman\u2019s condition and is awaiting a response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whirlwind rescue lasted about 30 minutes, from the time Selimaj saw the woman to when she was pulled to safety.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Selimaj family said they are incredibly proud of his heroic actions.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in good, in helping someone when you can,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe anyone would have done the same, I would hope. I\u2019m glad I was there at that exact moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of a gourmet restaurant in Manhattan never expected to become part of a rescue story, but…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":976739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,392055,6525,9856,5249,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4413,38708,392056,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,392057],"class_list":["post-976738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-east-river-rescues","tag-fdny","tag-first-responders","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-randalls-island","tag-steakhouses-in-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-waterfronts-in-nyc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117028668524695880","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}