Off-duty Mass. Firefighter Helps Save Crash Victim
Sept. 03--A rookie firefighter and a cook -- both off the clock Saturday night when suddenly pressed into action -- are being lauded for saving the life of a Kingston man who nearly drowned after his pickup truck drove into a Carver cranberry bog and flipped over in 5 to 6 feet of water.
Carver Fire Chief Craig Weston said Peter Grover, 66, of Kingston "was not breathing" when Adam Johnson, who joined the department's Company 3 in April, arrived to find chef David Shaw and another man trying to free him from his overturned and submerged 1994 Ford Ranger.
Grover was listed in stable condition yesterday at Jordan Hospital. He was not immediately facing charges. Carver police said in a statement they believe alcohol was a factor in the crash off Plymouth Street just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
"It was quite a thing. We saw the truck get out of control and go into the bog," said Shaw's father-in-law Martin McIssac, 75, a retired Hanson K-9 cop whose home -- at the time, crowded with company -- overlooks the marsh where Grover took the plunge. "My son-in-law gave him mouth-to-mouth and got him breathing again."
WWeston said Johnson was in the area checking bogs he owns and performed CPR because Grover barely had a pulse.
"I'd like to say he's had good training here at Carver Fire and his instincts kicked in," Weston said. "It's a good happy ending, hopefully."
laurel.sweet@bostonherald.com
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