Mayday!: Bleeding man rescued by police after accident in the Atlantic

EAST END, NY — An off-duty officer from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Second Precinct helped rescue a man who was suffering from rapid blood loss after a fishing accident in the Atlantic Ocean, police said.

Officer William Parmenter was out fishing in the Atlantic Ocean, about 80 miles southeast of Shinnecock Inlet, when a mayday call came in over the marine radio about 2 p.m. Wednesday about an injured person, police said.

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Parmenter, a paramedic, radioed the man’s boat and offered assistance. He then located the man’s boat and boarded it with a trauma kit, police reported.

Norman Orsinger, 66, of East Patchogue, was bleeding from both legs after
While attempting to catch a yellowfin tuna, he was pierced by a fishing hook, police said. Parmenter placed tourniquets on both legs and contacted the United States Coast Guard and the Suffolk County Police Department’s Aviation Division, police said.

A Coast Guard helicopter encountered the boat in the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles south of Hampton
Bays and flew Orsinger to Long Island MacArthur Airport, police said. Orsinger was then transported by Suffolk County police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was treated and released, police said.