A New York City paramedic saved the life of a drowning man by jumping into freezing waters of the Hudson on Saturday. Niall O’Shaughnessy, a 40-year-old veteran paramedic with the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), made the heroic effort.

O’Shaughnessy was working with his partner Minze Wu along the West Side Highway when he noticed some New York City Police Department (NYPD) units going into the river at Harrison and West Streets.

“I grabbed my personal flotation device and ran over to where the NYPD was,” O’Shaughnessy recalled, adding that by the time he reached the scene the NYPD had already lowered a life preserver to the man. But he had to go forward to help as the victim was unable to hold the life preserver.

“I knew hypothermia was going to be setting in, so I took off my equipment and my boots and I let them know I was going to jump in to help him stay afloat,” he said.

“I used my body to pull him around the life ring,” O’Shaughnessy said, adding he spent about five to 10 minutes in the icy water.

“The first two seconds in, I felt the cold set in,” he said. “After about 30 seconds to a minute I could definitely feel that my arms and legs weren’t working.”

The man had started to lose consciousness, O’Shaughnessy said. His partner Wu was above him coordinating the rescue.

“He was definitely lethargic,” the paramedic said about the victim. “He was definitely hypothermic. He had difficulty speaking and holding onto the ring. I was behind him holding onto him on the life ring.”

O’Shaughnessy handed the 50-year-old victim to officers and was able to climb up the ladder himself. The man was taken to Bellevue in stable condition. However, it was unclear why he was in the water.

"After I submerged and came back up, I put my arms around the patient that was in the water and I pushed them back onto the life ring using my body to hold them against it. I locked my arms around the patient to keep them secure while my partner was coordinating rescue efforts above. FDNY Engine 10 responded really quickly and lowered a ladder immediately to me. About 30 seconds in, it was getting very cold, and I could feel the hypothermia setting in, so NYPD Harbor Units pulled into the bay where we were. I managed to hand the patient off to them. I knew my partner and Engine 10 were there ready to help me, and with their assistance I managed to get back up the ladder. It’s a cold day to jump in the water, I wouldn’t advise it,” O’Shaughnessy described the incident in a post on the FDNY Facebook page.

O’Shaughnessy was briefly evaluated at New York-Presbyterian Downtown Hospital. Hailed as a hero after the incident, O’Shaughnessy said he wouldn’t consider himself a hero.

“I was just a civilian today,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I was a rescuer. He just needed a little help.”

This is not the first time O’Shaughnessy, who is originally from Ireland, performed such a heroic act. In July 2015, he plunged into the Hudson to save a woman who had jumped into the waters.

Earlier this year, he hopped onto the subway tracks at the 49th Street Station in Midtown to save a drunken Irish woman who fell in between a pair of train cars.

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