DARIEN, Conn. Police Officer Nick Aranzullo dove into four feet of water under the Post Road underpass Friday evening to rescue a woman and child trapped in a cars. He pulled them to safety through the windows as the car filled with water, then rescued an elderly woman who had gotten her car stranded in the flooding.
When Aranzullo arrived on the scene at 4:14 p.m. after reports of two trapped cars, he first made sure the woman and her son were okay. Before he pulled them out, he saw another woman standing with her child on the other side of the bridge. Concerned that there was a child stuck in her car, he swam over, but it turned out the woman was only concerned about damage to her car.
Aranzullo returned to the first car and freed the stuck passengers. Even though other police cars arrived to block off the scene, an 86-year-old woman drove around them and into the flooded underpass, stranding her car as well. Aranzullo swam over and was able to get her out through her car's window. She had a fractured rib, but was otherwise fine.
After several hours, the water was still not receding. At 5:45 p.m. police sent out a request over the fire radio asking if anybody could assist. Victor Pensiero, an assistant chief at the Darien Fire Department and plumber for the Darien Board of Education, answered the call and showed up with a pump. He and Tom Sniffen, a volunteer at the Noroton Fire Department, spent two hours pumping out the water.
Officials then discovered that the catch basins were full of debris, and that erosion had left a steel beam sticking out of the ground. They called the state DOT to do repairs and a cleanup. The roads were finally opened around 10:30 p.m.
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