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3/12/2019 Senate to honor Ashaway hero
Senate to honor Ashaway hero
Kyle Driscoll dove into frigid Pawcatuck to pull man from sinking car
 
STATE HOUSE – Senate Minority Whip Elaine J. Morgan and the entire Senate today will honor an Ashaway man who dove into the frigid Pawcatuck River in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day to pull a man from a sinking car, saving his life.

Kyle Driscoll will attend the Senate session today, Tuesday, March 12, beginning around 4 p.m. in the Senate chamber on the second floor of the State House, when members will honor him for his heroic deed. The media is welcome.

Minority Whip Morgan (R-Dist. 34, Hopkinton, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, West Greenwich) will sponsor a resolution recounting the dramatic rescue, and lauding Driscoll for his bravery and selflessness.

“It is such an honor to welcome a true hero to the Senate today. Kyle Driscoll risked his own life without hesitation to save a stranger. We are so fortunate to have such a hero in our community,” said Whip Morgan, in whose district Driscoll lives.

Driscoll, an employee at the Malted Barley in Westerly, was outside the restaurant with his manager due to a fire alarm when he heard a crash around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1. When he saw the car sinking in the river with the driver still inside, he immediately took off his shoes, jumped from a stone wall into the water and pulled out the driver, who appeared to be in shock. In order to pull himself and the victim to safety, he had to swim a couple hundred yards with him to a cable he spotted down the river, which he used to pull them up the rocks to a ledge. Both he and the driver were uninjured, although Driscoll was kept overnight in the hospital due to the frigidness of the water.


For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923