Boat crashes into Fire Island bulkhead, flinging man into water

FIRE ISLAND, N.Y. - Police officers and a bystander rescued the operator of a boat that slammed into a bulkhead on Fire Island just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, police said.

The boater — identified as Michael Greene, 34, of Islip — may have suffered a medical emergency while he was at the helm of a 25-foot Grady-White power boat, Suffolk County Police said. The force of the crash into the Fire Island Pines bulkhead flung Greene into the water.

A bystander jumped into the water and kept Greene afloat until Marine Bureau Officers Joseph Riviello and Anton Fanelli arrived and also went into the water to help, police said. 

"A third Marine Bureau officer, Richard Berni, jumped from Marine Kilo to Greene's boat, which was now unoccupied and traveling in circles," Suffolk County Police said in a news release. "Officer Berni was able to switch the boat into neutral and get back to Marine Kilo before the Grady-White sank." 

The officers brought Greene to Timber Point Marina, where a police helicopter picked him up and brought him to Stony Brook University Hospital. He was expected to recover. 

No one else was on the boat, police said.

"Good job to the Marine Bureau officers who dove into action this week!" police tweeted.

Fire Island Pines is a hamlet within the Town of Brookhaven.