Nov 30, 2009 7:23 pm US/Eastern
NY Man All Smiles After Frightening Fall
DEER PARK, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Edward Matos Sr., 71, laughs with his son after falling into a cesspool on his son's front lawn in Deer Park.
CBS
A 71-year-old Long Island man is lucky to be alive after he fell into his son's cesspool and saved thanks to quick action by his children and a neighbor.
Edward Matos Sr. and his wife, Gladys, were in Deer Park from Puerto Rico visiting his son when he walked across the front lawn and the ground gave way, he told CBS 2.
Staring down at the gaping hole from above on Monday, Matos was all smiles, and even jokes. When CBS 2's Pablo Guzman said it must have been very frightening to have been inside the cesspool, Matos laughed and replied: "How do you know? You ever been in one?"
The fall was anything, but fun for his family when it happened.
"I was so scared, I was screaming, I went hysterical; I didn't know what to do," Gladys said.
Matos' daughter, Melissa Pantelis, from Dix Hills, was also there, and the family credits her quick thinking with saving her father. She stretched out on the ground and did her best to help pull him from the cesspool
"She just held my hand and said, 'Dad, don't worry, we're gonna get you out,'" he said.
A neighbor joined in and the screaming woke Eddie Matos Jr., who was sleeping after working the night shift as a nurse at North Shore Hospital.
"I grabbed a hold of him, and just really started just pulling because he was actually being sucked under, he was being pulled under," he said.
"He's doing good, that's the main thing," his wife added.
And Matos Sr.'s great sense of humor continued as he wrapped up his interview with Guzman.
"I'm glad you came over," he said. "I'm glad you came over so you could talk to me while I'm still alive!"
Matos Sr. also told CBS 2 what really saved him was his failure to panic, because for 40 years he worked in manholes for Con Edison.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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