Eight-year-old son's screams for help kept him from drowning and saved his life

A Rhode Island man was rescued from a Catskills, New York, lake last month after his kayak was swamped while he was boating with his 8-year-old son, according to the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office.

At about 2:45 p.m. July 20, a deputy and detective were patrolling Swinging Bridge Lake, a reservoir in Monticello with 17.7 miles of shoreline, when they "heard a child screaming for help," the sheriff's office said in a press release.

Deputy Sean Grady and Detective Eric Breihof spotted the child and his father, "who was partially submerged," and brought their patrol boat to him, the sheriff's office said. The deputies extended a telescoping boat hook, and the victim was able to grab ahold of it, the sheriff's office said.

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A pair of nearby residents helped get the victim onto a dock when the deputy sheriffs brought him to shore.

The man was identified as Thomas P. Proppe, Jr., 48, whom the sheriff's office said was visiting from Cranston. An attempt to reach Proppe for comment was unsuccessful.

Proppe told the sheriff's office that he and his son were kayaking when the wake of a passing boat swamped them, the sheriff's office said. The boy was wearing a life jacket and managed to swim free, the sheriff's office said. His father was not wearing a life jacket, his legs got tangled, and he had trouble keeping his head above water, the sheriff's office said.

Sheriff Mike Schiff said, "We were very fortunate to avoid a tragedy in this case.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI man rescued in NY's Swinging Bridge Lake while kayaking with son