Sayville’s Brian Christman & C.J. Lutz

Team Up To Save a Life

From the STAtement Vol 37 Issue 1:

submitted by T. Southerton,

President of Sayville Teachers’ Association

They haven’t told many people and are reluctant to talk about it.

Yet both STA member Brian Christman  and C.J. Lutz (N.Y.C. Firefighter and husband of STA Member, Danielle Lutz) are real heroes and there is a young woman that owes her life to them.

It was a late summer evening and C.J. and Brian took a small boat over to Fire Island to enjoy what was left of the season. They were at an establishment on the island when people, knowing that they had a boat, came to them, screaming that there was a woman in the water. C.J. and Brian ran to their boat. The woman’s boyfriend was on the beach screaming and pleading for someone to help.

C.J. and Brain took their boat out into the bay and searched for her. They could see nothing in the dark waters as they had only the light of the moon to help. One of them suggested that they shut off the engine and listen. It was hard to hear over the pounding of their hearts in their chests, but they did hear a faint cry for help.

They headed over to where the call came from. She was in the water, weighted down by the sun dress that she was wearing, flailing with her last bit of energy to keep her head above water. Brian dove into the bay and pulled her to the boat.  C.J. and Brian worked together to get her into the boat. If they had not found her when they did, she probably did not have much time left before she would have drowned.

C.J. and Brain never found out her name or why she was in the water with her clothes on. It never made the newspapers and they are not looking for any attention.

Despite their modesty, we are proud of them and are grateful that they were there that night to be heroes.