You can call it a case of divine intervention.
United States Park Police rescued a swimmer after he dove into the frigid waters of New York Harbor on what he claims was mission from God.
The unidentified 29-year-old man stripped down to swim trunks, stretched out and then dove from a Liberty State Park footpath in front of stunned park-goers about 4:30 p.m. today, authorities said.
But the onlookers amazingly never bothered to call for help as he attempted a three-quarter mile swim to Liberty Island, authorities said.
It wasn’t until 45 minutes later that a witness spotted him floundering and called 911.
U.S. Park Police dispatched a rescue vessel and within a minute they caught up to the man about a quarter mile from Liberty Island, shivering and fighting the tide, which threatened to sweep him out to sea.
“When we got to him he was shivering like a leaf and the tides were taking him away from Liberty Island,” said United States Park Police Officer Kurt Ziel, who responded to the call along with fellow US Park Police Officers Eddie Scocco and Christopher Murphy.
“He said God told him to swim to Liberty Island,” said Ziel. “He said he would rather drowned than get on the boat.”
After brief negotiations, the exhausted swimmer climbed aboard the rescue craft and he was taken back to Liberty State Park, where an ambulance was waiting. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation, authorities said.
On Monday, the same team team of officers plucked a man and his wife from the harbor after their jet ski capsized of the shore of Liberty State Park.