Photo: Tony Shi Photography / Moment / Getty Images
When 27-year-old Canadian ironworker Spencer Baker fell 150 feet off the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit and Canada, a family fishing nearby rushed to get him help. The family actually witnessed Baker’s fall and hurried to a nearby business, marine delivery company J.W. Westcott Co, for help.
Captain Sam Buchanan, a Westcott employee, answered the call when a young girl and her mother came pounding on the office door to report the fallen worker. Buchanan and his team ran to one of their boats and rushed out to where the worker was floating in the river. "He really wasn't swimming,” Buchanan recalls, “He was bobbing in the water and he had no life jacket.” After bringing the dazed worker onboard, they wrapped him in a blanket and brought him back to shore.
Baker was checked out at the hospital and was later released and returned home. The ironworker suffered a few broken bones and some pretty nasty bruises, but was otherwise unharmed and happy to be back with his four-month-old daughter, who he admits he was afraid he’d never see again. Now Buchanan is being hailed a hero for his part in rescuing Baker, but the Captain insists it’s the family that reported the incident that really deserves the praise.