From routine to a rescue for 2 Suffolk Marine Bureau cops

Suffolk police Marine Bureau officers Mike Cappiello and Chris Schnoor were on routine patrol just before dusk Thursday night in the Great South Bay when a small object appeared in the distance, bobbing in choppy waters.

As their rescue boat approached Buoy 34 off Sayville, Cappiello and Schnoor got a better view of what at first looked unrecognizable but after a closer glimpse, turned out to be a man in a life jacket trying to stay afloat, police said.

Andrew Cole, 35, of Bohemia, had been in the chilly bay for about an hour after being unable to restart his scooter, which was taking on water, Schnoor said.

Cole first considered trying to swim to shore, but steady gusts and the churning bay made him rethink that plan.

"He thought he was going to be able to swim back," Schnoor said. "He was easily a mile from where he had to go. You know the winds were blowing out of the east pretty good. He would have never made it."

Cappiello and Schnoor were able to pluck both Cole and the craft from the water, which according to the National Weather Service, had dipped to 58 degrees with wind gusts of 7 to 9 mph by Thursday night.

"He was shivering the whole time on the boat ride and we were on the boat for a while because we had to tow his jet ski and it wasn’t an easy tow because we didn’t want it to sink behind us," Schnoor said.

Cappiello, with 25 years on the department, and Schnoor, a 19-year veteran, had a pre-summer tip for those getting ready to take the boat or personal water craft out of dry dock and into the water: If possible, never go alone.

"People should do the buddy system," Schnoor said. "If he was with another jet skier or a boater if something happened, then he could have gotten towed in with a friend. He was lucky that we found him just before the sun went down."