A routine practice session became a rescue mission for members of Penn's varsity crew team last Thursday. College senior and rower Andy McBrien said he was practicing on the Schuylkill River when he heard a big splash. He turned around to see a car sinking six feet to the bottom of the river. The brown Chevrolet Corsica plunged into the river at about 4:25 p.m., killing the driver and injuring a fisherman who was standing on the river bank. The driver, Philadelphia resident Fletcher Morris, had a heart attack and lost control of the car, which jumped a concrete parking barrier off West River Drive, according to Philadelphia Police marine unit reports. Morris died at Allegheny University Hospital at 10:40 p.m. that evening. Crew teams from several area colleges were practicing on the river when the car sunk. Haverford College Crew Coach Jim Barker handed rope to two Penn rowers -- McBrien and College junior Joe Melchiors. The two tied the car's door handles open. McBrien was then able to pull Morris out of the car and swim with him to shore. "I didn't really think," said McBrien, who is trained as a lifeguard. "I swam out and started diving around the car to get him out. "When I pulled him out he had a lot of water in him. He was blue and we didn't even feel a pulse," McBrien added. Once they had reached the shore, McBrien and fellow team member Steve Parks, a College sophomore, performed CPR on Morris until paramedics arrived at the scene. The simple act of stabilizing Morris was a major accomplishment, McBrien said. "Whatever the paramedics did, they were miracle workers," McBrien added. "I didn't think he had a chance." While McBrien carried Morris to shore, College senior Jake Watkins attended to the injured fisherman, Philadelphia resident Charles Watson. Watkins, a member of the crew team, was riding his bicycle along the river when he spotted Watson, who lay on the bank of the river after the car hit him from behind. According to McBrien, Watkins "mysteriously appeared" on the scene and took off his shirt, wrapping it around the fisherman's head, which was bleeding from injuries. The fisherman was then taken to the City Avenue division of Philadelphia's Graduate Health Systems hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Watson was released yesterday, according to hospital spokesperson Jim Minnick. McBrien said he was glad he was able to help in the situation. "It's weird? strange things happen," he said. "It's not every day that a car falls in the water and you have to save a guy."
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