Spectators commented on the efficient manner in which a California dad kicked off his shoes and emptied his pockets before jumping into the East River to save his tiny daughter Bridgette—turns out rescue work was once his job! A decade back David Anderson worked ski patrol at Vail resort in Colorado, where the Daily News tracked down one of his former co-workers. "I'm shocked but not surprised. ... He would do that in a heartbeat," said Steve Clark, commenting on the daring grab, after Anderson's 2-year-old fell from the gangplank of a ship museum at South Street Seaport. "Dave would not do anything else."
Meanwhile the photographer who sold his shots to the tabloid claims he was about to jump in too. "I thought I was going in the water. I ran over there pulling my phone out of my pocket, pulling everything out of my pocket," said Eric Stringer of Long Island. "The father was just so fast." But the mysterious Frenchman who joined Anderson in the river rescue before hopping into a cab still hasn't surfaced.
In Stringer's video of the event the little girl appears unharmed, if cranky, as she's carried from the brown water. She was rushed to the hospital where according to a cop she's "in good shape considering." The Peking ship has no plans to increase its safety precautions, says a spokesman.
