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Man Swims In Central Park Reservoir, Refuses To Leave
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 10, 2011
Modified Jul 11, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 10, 2011
Modified Jul 11, 2011
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Reminder: Swimming in the Central Park Reservoir is illegal. This was confirmed in 2004 when two Canadian tourists decided to scale the four-foot fence and take a dip, but, hey, that was seven years ago, so we were due for another incident: a man was removed from the reservoir today by the Fire Department because he refused their requests to get out.
According to the Post, "The man, described as a white male in his 40s, allegedly scaled the chain-link fence at the Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and jumped into the 40-foot deep body of water sometime before 3 p.m, officials said." When the man refused to agree to firefighters' requests for him to come back to dry land, he was floating and "then drifting about 20 feet from the northeast edge of the reservoir, and three FDNY firefighters swam over to him with a yellow rope and lassoed him, officials said."
The man is currently in stable condition at St. Luke's Hospital. Back in 2004, the pair of Canadians—who were removed by a scuba team (the cops also cut the fence)—had to spend the night in jail. And pro-tip: The only place to go swimming in Central Park is the Lasker Pool.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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