Sailors recall rescue of motorcyclist from water after HRBT crash

NORFOLK

A man thrown from the motorcycle he was operating after a high-speed wreck early Saturday was pulled ashore by two Navy men who jumped into the Hampton Roads Channel to rescue him.

A third sailor also assisted.

The cyclist, identified as Brian Anthony Davis, 22, of Grand Rapids, Mich., also is in the Navy, stationed aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Davis remains in critical condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

The wreck happened about 3:45 a.m. Saturday on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, said Sgt. Michelle Cotten, a State Police spokeswoman.

Davis was westbound on Interstate 64, allegedly “in excess of 100 mph,” Cotten said, when he apparently lost control as he approached the entrance of the tunnel.

The 2002 Suzuki he was on slammed into a wall. The impact flung him from the highway to the water alongside the bridge-tunnel complex.

Davis might have drowned if not for the fast action of three fellow service members who happened upon the scene.

They were identified as:

• Third class petty officer Edgar Ardon, 22, an aviation support equipment technician from Glen Oak, Calif.

• Third class petty officer Jason Murphy, 23, a fire controlman from Jacksonville, Fla.

• Third class petty officer Elisandro Leal, 22, a damage controlman from League City, Texas.

All three sailors are temporarily assigned to the Carl Vinson’s on-board security force, said Lt. j.g. Arlo Abrahamson, a public affairs officer for the carrier.

The ship is docked at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard where it is undergoing a major overhaul and receiving upgrades as well as having its nuclear fuel replenished.

The three men “are assigned to a shift that normally works nights,” Abrahamson said. But, to Davis’ good fortune, they were off duty at the time of the incident.

The three men were returning to their residences in Newport News from Norfolk in the pre-dawn darkness.

Leal was driving when they saw the wreck happen and stopped to see what they could do to help.

He was the first to spot Davis, catching sight of the man's motorcycle helmet, floating in water alongside the span.

“Once we saw him in the water, we knew we had to do something to help,” he said.

Leal stayed with his vehicle and used a cell phone to alert police while his buddies clambered over railings and down to the water’s edge to rescue Davis.

By then, Davis was “face down in the water,” about 25 feet from the span, Cotten said.

Ardon and Murphy ripped off their outer clothes, down to their skivvies, and jumped into the 52-degree water. They grabbed hold of Davis and brought him to the barrier of huge rocks that rings the southern island of the bridge-tunnel.

Davis had stopped breathing, so Ardon began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The man showed signs of life, coughing up water.

Soon after, paramedics and firefighters arrived and took over efforts to save and stabilize Davis who was revived.

Even then, his rescuers did not immediately leave his side.

“I just told him to keep breathing and to relax,” said Ardon. “We wanted to reassure him that everything was going to be okay.” The men said their military training made the rescue possible.

“Our training helped us” Murphy said. “We practice every day on how to respond to emergencies. So we felt like we were prepared to help out.”

The men dismissed any hero labels for their efforts, however.

“Hopefully, anyone in our situation would have done this,” Ardon said hours after the rescue.

“This was someone’s brother, son, or father, and I was in position to help this guy,” he said. “I’m not a hero; just a person serving in the military, and trying to serve others when they need it.”

Abrahamson said the three men will be officially recognized for their efforts. For now, however, thoughts turn to the well being of Davis.

“We are hoping he pulls through,” Abrahamson said Saturday afternoon. “He’s a fellow carrier sailor. There’s a kinship there.”

Steve Stone, (757) 446-2309, steve.stone@pilotonline.com