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Village resident saved from stormy waters
"Just before Carl's River, my motor stopped running and the waves were so high, my anchor would not hold," said Spiezio in recalling the day. "In no time, the wind had pushed me into a 7-foot sea wall." At that point, Spiezio called Suffolk Marine for help from his cell phone. The waves were knocking him around and drove him against a sea wall and under a high dock where he hit his head and became dazed. When he came to, he was able to push the boat out from under the finger dock but was still in dire straits and in need of immediate assistance. At that same time, BabylonTown Bay Constable Mike Diggle was off duty. He heard Spiezio's call for help and got into his private boat with a friend and called for back up. Bay Constables Bob Stanton and Walter Liszewski also responded and found Spiezio in a boat that was quickly losing its battle against the unrelenting waves. It was sinking fast, Spiezio with it. The men threw Spiezio a rope but the boat was already awash and beyond towing. The men then tried to pull Spiezio up the sea wall. Diggle jumped onto his friends boat, attempting to make a rescue of Spiezio who is 74 years old and 320 pounds.. "It was really tough because one look at him and you knew he was losing it," said Diggle. "He had nothing left and seemed to have given up." But his rescuers would not. With the winds increasing in intensity and the boat about ready to flip over, Stanton jumped into the water, placing his own live in danger. "Had that boat flipped over, Bob and I would have been stuck under it and drowned," said Spiezio. "No question about it." But with Bob pushing and Mike and Walter pulling from the dock they were eventually able to pull Spiezio to safety. "I was totally exhausted for I had been fighting to save the boat for almost an hour," said Spiezio. "Seconds after Bob got up on the dock the waves flipped the boat completely." Also assisting at the scene were Bay Constables Steve Jawiorowski, Artie Smith and Steve Clifford. "If it were not for these brave men who went above and beyond, you would have one less taxpayer," Spiezio wrote in a letter to BabylonTown Supervisor Steve Bellone commending the men. "I want to make sure that their devotion to duty is acknowledged." A week later, Jawiorowski and Diggle stood by the water where the incident occurred with Spiezio. It was again a calm morning and the men talked about the rescue and how it could have turned out differently, and tragically, for Spiezio. "It's amazing how quickly you can lose perspective on the Bay," said Spiezio, a lifelong boater and fisherman. As for the rescue, Spiezio said he has since learned that Stanton is a fellow U.S. Marine veteran.
"I told him I was in from 1953 to 1957," said Spiezio and he told me that Marines never leave another behind."
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