By:Nicole Falco
On July 10, 2003, Bill Blanchflower, 46, sailed out of East Massapequa on his buddy's 23-foot boat for an afternoon of fluke fishing in the Great South Bay. Blanchflower and his friend, Bill Huebner, of Wantagh, immediately noticed that a 14-foot boat had capsized, leaving the four occupants, two boys and two girls, ranging in age from 9 to 14, bobbing in the water. The children had lifejackets on, but had already been in the water 20 to 25 minutes and were visibly shaken. Blanchflower, a supervisor at the Valley Stream Post Office, and Huebner, a fellow postal worker, immediately threw the kids a flotation device, pulled them to safety and took them back to the Unqua Corinthian Yacht Club in Amityville, where they had sailed from.
On the way to safety, Blanchflower and Huebner noticed another 14-foot boat with two 15-year-old girls aboard that had lost a sail and damaged another after capsizing. Though the girls had managed to right the boat, it had no sails, and the wind was not in their favor. After taking the first four children to safety, the rescuers returned for the two teens.
"We happened to be at the right place at the right time," Blanchflower said.
When he's not fishing or working at the post office, Blanchflower works part time as a Valley Stream code enforcement officer. One night last May, while on the job, he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked on Franklin Avenue near Merrick Road. The car, in which there were two passengers, appeared to be either parked or waiting for the light to change, but did not move as the light changed numerous times.
"I noticed a guy getting out of the car with a sweatshirt on, sweatpants and a bat in his hand," Blanchflower said. "He had no idea that I was watching him. He went into [the Shell Gas Station on West Merrick Road], looked around the place, went to the counter, fumbled in his pocket and when he walked out I got a good look at his face."
Blanchflower said he drove around the block, then wrote down the car's license plate number. With the car still not moving, Blanchflower drove away to continue his rounds. Soon afterward, he heard on a police scanner that a robbery had occurred at the gas station. The station's clerk had been assaulted with a bat and $400 had been stolen. Blanchflower immediately returned to the scene and provided police with what turned out to be the suspects' license number. The suspects were arrested after positive identification was made by Blanchflower and the gas station clerk.
"I've been doing [code enforcement] for so long that you know when something looks suspicious and when something looks normal," Blanchflower said.
While he assumed he was being honored for the save at sea, the Herald learned of his additional act of heroism from the county's 5th Precinct and his code enforcement supervisor, Nick Cassano, who said Blanchflower is due to receive recognition from the village for helping cops nab the robbery suspects.
Blanchflower was joined by his wife, Tracy, at the ceremony at police headquarters in Mineola, and by his mother-in-law, Dotty Dattoli. Police Commissioner James H. Lawrence presented the award. It turned out he was honored, with Huebner, for saving the six children.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
