ATLANTIC CITY — Scott Bittner was putting his children to bed when he heard someone yelling about 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Bittner lives in a development on the water in Chelsea Heights and initially thought the sound was echoing from across the water, which is a common occurrence on the lagoon, he said.
But the loud sound was persistent.
Bittner soon realized it was a plea for help.
The Stockton University men’s basketball coach saw a man had fallen into the freezing water about 50 yards from his Chelsea Court home and was stuck between a boat and the dock.
At least the Stockton University men’s and women’s basketball teams now have some certainty.
Bittner said the man was tangled in the propeller of the boat and it took him about 15 minutes, with the help of his neighbor’s friend, to untangle the drowning man, who was unconscious at that point, and get him out of the water.
Police and firefighters eventually arrived, by which point the unidentified man was out of the water, and transported him to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, police said.
Bittner tweeted Tuesday morning that the man, who Bittner said may have been in his late 60s, survived and will be sent home in a few days. He was relieved to receive the news, afraid the man had caught hypothermia.
“I did what anyone else would do, I guess,” Bittner said. “He was yelling and, I guess, I was the only one that heard. ... I just heard him and went down there and did what anybody would do. I mean, I would hope somebody would do that for me.”
Bittner said the man lives about five or six units from him in Chelsea View. He added the only scary part about the rescue would have been if he had to jump in the water and risk getting stuck himself.
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But it was a risk he would have taken if he had to.
“I wondered if I should have to get him out of there earlier,” Bittner said.
Bittner said about four or five months ago a woman fell through the dock in Chelsea View. That made him want to act and investigate the scene Monday night.
“I didn’t feel heroic, but it’s picking up steam,” Bittner said. “Somebody said, ‘You’re a hero.’ Well, I’m a hero to that guy, but I don’t know about anybody else.
The Stockton University men’s basketball team, picked only seventh among 10 teams in the New…
Bittner’s children Kennedy, 7, and Jackson, 5, were awaked by the paramedics and first responders. They were worried because they could not find their father and all they heard was sirens, Bittner said.
“I had to explain to them that I couldn’t leave this guy,” Bittner said. “I hope it didn’t scare them too much.”
The Stockton men’s team was supposed to be playing in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, Bittner said, but the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was the only reason he was home.
“Thank God we weren’t (in Nashville) for that family,” he said. “Something good has come out of COVID.”
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Stockton University men’s basketball coach Scott Bittner, shown during practice in November 2019.
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