From Chicago comes the story of how a pair of heroes rescued an infant who was swept into Lake Michigan.
Lio Cundiff, 30, was talking on the phone with his aunt in Belmont Harbor when he noticed the wind pick up, followed by a blood-curdling scream from a woman nearby.
Cundiff knew immediately what had happened: the wind had caught the stroller’s bassinet and, as the nursery rhyme goes, the baby and the crib fell into the lake.
“I realized that the woman couldn’t help because she was too scared, which is understandable. So I thought, ‘I guess it’s my turn to go in,’ and I just jumped,” Cundiff told the Chicago Tribune. “I had no idea what the plan would be.”
Reaching for the stroller, Cundiff was unable to remove the baby and had to lift the top out of the water to prevent it from sinking.
Then came Luis Kapost, an American Airlines pilot who was the second to arrive on the scene and complemented Cundiff’s impulsive heroism with a more calculated response. Noticing Cundiff struggling in the water with more than 30 pounds of soaked stroller, he threw an arm of his Chicago Cubs jacket at him, which Cundiff admitted helped a lot.
Holding the other arm of the jacket, Kapost kept Cundiff afloat until the baby’s nanny arrived to help lift the stroller out of the water.
First responders arrived to take the man and baby to the hospital.
«Yes, I called work, I called my girlfriend. My aunt was on the phone. She heard everything. I just left my phone and I guess she called my mom. “I was just trying to make sure everyone knew I was okay and the baby was okay,” Cundiff told local media.
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Even though the weather was good, the water was still cold, and at the hospital they discovered that Cundiff had elevated heart enzymes, which worried doctors enough to recommend staying overnight.
Kapost praised his co-savior.
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“That’s the epitome of a hero, someone who acts to help another person they don’t know, even if it puts their own life in danger,” Kapost told the Tribune. “He’s a real rock star.”
As for Cundiff, he admitted that being called a hero felt strange: He described himself as simply a waiter and comedian who was in the right place at the right time.
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