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The woman was “diabetic, exhausted, dehydrated and vomiting” when Palisades Interstate Parkway police found her and her 15-year-old son shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday in the area of the Great Stairs more than 150 feet above the river in Alpine, PIPPD Sgt. First Class Raymond E. Walter said.
She passed out as they administered lifesaving first aid, he said.
The Piermont Fire Department High Angle Rescue Team, their Marine Unit and the Rockland County Sheriff’s Marine Unit also responded, the sergeant said.
The rescuers climbed 300 feet up the side of the North Rock Slide to the Shore Trail just south of the New York border, then walked a half-mile or so down to the mother and son, he said.
Rescuers "safely carried {them] down from treacherous location to a waiting marine unit so [the woman] could be safely transported to the hospital for further evaluation,” Walter said.
That was only the start of a busy day for the Palisades Interstate Parkway police.
Members of the Marine Services Bureau, with Detective Lt. Roman Galloza and Officers David Moscaritolo and Scott Bilotti, responded back to the Giant Stairs a few hours later.
This time, a 37-year-old New York man told the he’d injured his ankle and could no longer walk, Walter said.
They got to him, rendered first aid and brought the way to a waiting PIP Marine Unit, which took him to the Alpine Marina. Members of the Closter Volunteer Ambulance and Rescue Corps took him to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, the sergeant said.
In between those calls, he said, Galloza, Mosaritolo and Bilotti rescued a group on a vessel stranded in the Hudson River between Alpine and Yonkers.
The call came in at 5:43 p.m., Walter said.
“The Marine Services Bureau made contact with the stranded vessel, made sure all the boats occupants were OK and assisted them back to the Alpine Marina safely and without further incident,” he said.
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