NYPD officers rescue an 83-year-old man sinking into marsh

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York police officers rescued an elderly man who got stuck in a marshy area Thursday. He missed his bus and thought he'd take a shortcut he used as a child. But the area has changed and he ended up having to call 911. It was a short cut that could have ended in tragedy.

"All of sudden, I don't know how, but I caught a little hand movement from him, out of the corner of my eye," Detective Sean Daly of the NYPD told WPIX. But for almost an hour before that, a crew from the NYPD's aviation unit searched and searched the wetlands behind Staten Island University Hospital.

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Once the elderly man was spotted, Daly was lowered down from the police helicopter. "I guess he got a little tired, disoriented, ended up falling down and couldn't get back up," said Daly. "He was laying down, edge of this pond, laying down, face up, holding onto his briefcase."

Daly used a special suit to attach the man to him. Officer John Martin was the hoist operator up in the helicopter. This was his first rescue. "Basically what we train for every day here, training scenarios, came into play. As a crew, we had a plan. We tacked it. We did our job," said Martin.

As the man was lifted into the chopper, the fuel light went on. But it was just enough to finish the job. "Awesome day. This is why we take this job, to help people," said Daly.

According to police, the man was wet, cold and tired, but overall, he was in good condition.

CNN/WPIX