Fisherman rescued 80 miles from shore by off-duty policeman

An off-duty police officer fishing in the ocean about 80 miles off Shinnecock Inlet helped save an East Patchogue boater who had both legs pierced by a hook while trying to catch a yellowfin tuna.

William Parmenter, an officer with the Suffolk County Police 2nd Precinct, heard a mayday call on his marine radio about 2 p.m. Wednesday about an injured man, 66-year-old Norma Orsinger, who was suffering from rapid blood loss.

Parmenter, who is an EMT, immediately sprang into action, locating and boarding Orsinger’s boat after radioing the man’s boat. He applied tourniquets to both legs and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and the Suffolk County Police Department Aviation Section.

A Coast Guard helicopter located the man’s boat in the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles south of Hampton Bays, and airlifted Orsinger to Long Island MacArthur Airport. Orsinger was then flown by police helicopter from Suffolk to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was treated and released.