Good Samaritans save woman from Brightwaters canal

A woman is thanking two strangers Friday for rescuing her from her SUV after it rolled into a frigid canal in Brightwaters when the gas pedal got stuck. Jennie Cocco, the wife of 50s do wop group Lenny

News 12 Staff

Dec 13, 2008, 12:44 AM

Updated 5,756 days ago

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A woman is thanking two strangers Friday for rescuing her from her SUV after it rolled into a frigid canal in Brightwaters when the gas pedal got stuck.
Jennie Cocco, the wife of 50s do wop group Lenny Cocco and the Chimes? founder, was pulling out of a driveway when police say the accelerator got stuck and her Ford Explorer plunged off the side of the road. That?s when Jacob Miller and Great River firefighter James Digiovanna saw the vehicle sinking and jumped in.
Digiovanna says he swam halfway to the car in the 40-degree water, then swam back to land to get something to break the car window with. He says Miller then helped her out of the car.
?This is what this country is all about,? Lenny Cocco says of his wife?s rescuers. ?It ain't the money, it ain't the politics, it's the love that people have for each other."
Jennie Cocco was treated for hypothermia and is expected to be OK. Doctors are keeping her overnight to be safe.