Police rescue dog trapped under capsized boat

Nassau County Police rescued two men and a dog in Reynolds Channel Tuesday morning, after their boat capsized off the shores of Long Beach, leaving the dog trapped under the vessel for nearly an hour.

According to police, the department’s Marine Bureau received a distress call from witnesses at 11:20 a.m. saying that a 21-foot Wellcraft boat had overturned near the Meadowbrook 3 Bridge. Three officers arrived at the scene and rescued the men, as they then began searching for Amirah, a 13-month-old cane corso that was also aboard. The U.S. Coast Guard and Town of Hempstead constables also responded to the scene.

“The dog, later discovered, [was] under the boat for 58 minutes,” Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said at a press conference on Friday at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola. “But it was the quick thinking of these police officers that stabilized that boat to keep the air pocket constant in there until they had the ability to locate and rescue Amirah.”

Copiague resident Joseph Aveni, the dog’s owner, said he was fishing with a friend when the boat began to take on water. He untied the anchor and the boat capsized, throwing him and his friend into the channel. While in the water, Aveni said that he began to search for Amirah.

When he couldn’t find her, Aveni and the officers, who arrived on the scene within minutes, speculated she was under the drifting boat.

“The officers helped keep me calm, evaluate the situation, came up with a plan to stop the boat [from moving], and we’re just happy that she stayed in the air pocket,” Aveni said.

The boat was floating upside down, with only about three feet of its underside visible, according to police officer Joseph Nappi. TowBoatU.S., a marine salvage company from Bay Shore, helped upright the boat almost an hour later, he added, and Amirah, who was sitting in the boat, stood up.

“In my whole police career, it was the most miraculous thing I’ve ever seen,” said Nappi.

When rescuers found the dog, she was shaking and her mouth was foaming from the saltwater, Nappi said, and police transported Aveni, his friend and Amirah to Mako Marine in Freeport. Both men refused medical treatment, but Aveni took his dog to an animal hospital for evaluation.

Mangano, along with Nassau Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter, presented officers Joseph Schoeper, John Ciatarella and Nappi with citations for their service during the rescue.

“It’s a miracle that she’s still alive,” said Aveni, who called Amirah his best friend. “I don’t think that any one of us could last 58 minutes in the water in an air pocket, I think that any one of us would panic. She’s a true trooper.”