LORAIN — The police officer who saved an 81-year-old Avon man from drowning in the Black River over the weekend said Tuesday he doesn’t consider himself a hero.

“I think (Albert Radawiec) had a lot to do with saving himself,” Officer Michael Hendershot said. “He fell in about 30 yards down and swam to the ladder himself and held on. … I don’t think that I did anything that any other police officer who’d responded would not have done. I was just the first one here.”

Radawiec fell into the water after a gust of wind blew his folding aluminum chair into the water and, while chasing after it, Radawiec lost his balance at the edge of the pier. He was saved when two unknown men on the pier saw him fall in, threw him a bait line and called 911.

Hendershot responded to the call, took off his duty belt, got in the water and held on to Radawiec until the U.S. Coast Guard arrived and fished Radawiec out of the water.

Hendershot is a member of the Police Department Dive Team, which means he has training in water rescues. He kept Radawiec from going under the water, helped put a flotation ring around him and swam with him out to the Coast Guard boat where Radawiec was pulled from the water.

“He was not very verbally responsive,” Hendershot said, adding that Radawiec had been in the water for about 10 minutes before he got there. The Coast Guard said at the time Radawiec was suffering from extreme hypothermia.

The Police Dive Team combined a training exercise Tuesday morning with an attempt to retrieve some personal items lost by Radawiec during his stint in the 50-degree water Saturday morning.

Police Sgt. Ray Farley said the dive team found two fishing poles and a chair — neither of which belong to Radawiec — but no wallet.

“There’ve been tug boats going through there constantly because they’re dredging and that just pulls everything around,” Farley said.

The Dive Team, at risk due to the city’s recent budget crisis, was formed 28 years ago.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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