Juneau police and the Coast Guard report an unusual rescue on the Juneau waterfront early Tuesday night.
Two intoxicated men, apparently arguing over a whiskey bottle, both fell off the cruise ship docks near the downtown library about 7 o’clock.
One of the men reportedly clung to the pilings and some Good Samaritans threw him a life ring. His drinking buddy or antagonist – perhaps both in this case — started swimming further out into Gastineau Channel, away from the docks.
Police officers and the Coast Guard responded. Petty Officer Melanie Grieco says they dispatched a 25-foot motor lifeboat from Station Juneau to retrieve the disoriented swimmer.
Grieco estimates the response time as about five-minutes. Both men were eventually hauled out of the water. At the docks’ launch landing, they were handed over to police and EMT’s to be checked out or taken to the hospital.
No major injuries initially reported.
Rescuers were not able to get any ages or identifications of the two men.
