Township and county plan to commend Chris Kascik for his life-saving efforts Nov. 8
By John Tredrea
The Hopewell Township Police Department and the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders plan to honor township Officer Chris Kascik for the role he played in saving the life of a 17-year-old Hopewell Township boy who had sought refuge from flood waters in a tree off Old Mill Road the afternoon of Nov. 8.
Township Police Chief George Meyer said Tuesday that his department "will be awarding Chris the Life Saving Award for his actions. Hopefully this will be done at an upcoming Township Committee meeting."
The freeholders plan to honor Officer Kascik with a formal proclamation at their Nov. 21 meeting, according to freeholder board spokeswoman JoAnn Povia.
Also on tap for commendation by the freeholders is the Green family of Washington Crossing, Pa., who donated the rope Officer Kascik used to save the boy. The rope was one of 12 safety lines the Green family donated to the township department in January after a family member, Eric Green, and his dog were rescued from the Delaware and Raritan Canal in Titusville.
Freeholder Liz Muoio said Tuesday that the county would honor them next Monday if Officer Kascik and the Green family are both available. If not, the event will take place at a later date.
On Nov. 8, shortly after a resident called police at 4:18 p.m. about a truck in trouble, Officer Kascik arrived at the scene. At that point, the boy’s strength was just about to give out as he clung to a tree surrounded by rushing flood waters.
Carrying a rope, Officer Kascik waded through Stony Brook’s 4 feet of swiftly moving floodwater, which knocked him off his feet. After regaining his balance, he climbed on top of a pickup truck that was stuck in the water on Old Mill Road. The brook had flooded the road due to daylong heavy rains.
What took Officer Kascik into the water before rescue boats arrived was the boy’s yelling he was exhausted and might not be able to hold onto the tree much longer.
From the top of the truck, Officer Kascik threw the rope about 40 feet to the boy who was hanging onto a tree. The boy had been a passenger in the pickup truck, whose driver was safe on dry land.
Holding onto the rope Officer Kascik had thrown him, the boy let go of the tree and the policeman pulled him through the water to the pickup truck. They both waited on top of the vehicle until a rescue boat from Union Fire Company, of Titusville, arrived and brought them to safety, one at a time.
The driver of the truck, Cameron Wahl, 18, of Hamilton, was on top of the truck. He waded through the water to the officers and said his passenger, the 17-year-old boy, "was out of the vehicle, had gone the other way, and was somewhere on the other side of the stream," Chief Meyer said.
It turned out that the boy was still in the stream up in the tree that was in the stream, that is.
Officer Kascik and another township officer, Vincent Amabile, searched the flooded area, saw the boy in the tree and called for the rescue boat. The Pennington Fire Company and Hopewell Valley Emergency Services Unit responded along with Union, which has rescue boats and has done rescue operations on the Delaware River for many years.
Chief Meyer said Officer Kascik "really did a commendable job. He saw the need, acted quickly and displayed bravery."
At the time of the rescue, Old Mill Road was closed at both ends with police barricades, due to flooding caused by 2½ inches of rainfall Nov. 8.
Mr. Wahl had driven around the barricade at Old Mill Road’s southern end, where it intersects with Federal City Road. The northern end of Old Mill Road, which is about a mile long, intersects Pennington-Rocky Hill Road. Stony Brook goes under a bridge on a low-lying portion of Old Mill Road, several 100 feet of which were flooded.
The chief said that after Mr. Wahl’s pickup truck entered the 4-foot-deep water, the truck’s rear-end began to float and the motor stalled. Then the passenger compartment began to flood and Mr. Wahl and the boy had to get out and climb onto the roof.
The chief said it took Officer Kascik "a few tries" to throw the rope to the boy in the tree. The officer put a sneaker he found in the pickup truck inside the rope’s carrying bag. The sneaker did the trick. Along with the rope, it gave the bag enough weight to enable Officer Kascik to throw the bag close enough to the boy in the tree for the boy to reach it.
Charges against Mr. Wahl, according to Chief Meyer, are: driving on a closed roadway, reckless driving and reckless endangerment. Those charges, the chief said Tuesday, will be heard in Municipal Court.
The boy rescued from the tree was taken to Capital Health System, Fuld Campus, to be examined, by the Hopewell Valley Emergency Services Unit. He was treated for minor injuries and a slight case of hypothermia and released, police said.
Police have declined to give the boy’s name because he is a minor.

