3 Greater Danbury Teens Recognized After Attempt to Save Woman on Candlewood Lake
Last summer, three Danbury teens were out for a leisurely boat ride on Candlewood Lake when they came upon the unthinkable.
As CT Insider describes it, the three teens out for an afternoon of cliff-jumping at Chicken Rock and then they headed back towards Squantz Cove, where they came upon a serious situation. They saw a group of adults on a pontoon boat yelling and forming "X's" with their hands.
In the water was Waterbury teacher, Wanda Tirado, who had fallen off a pontoon boat. The two teens from Wooster School, Bailey Storrier and Alicia Nicoletti along with Josh Carone of Ridgefield automatically jumped in the water to see if they could lend assistance.
All three teens had recently learned how to administer CPR for their upcoming summer camp jobs. Together they gently lifted Tirado, who's arm was hanging by a thread onto the deck of the pontoon boat.
Tirado had stopped breathing until Storrier started CPR. Once her heart came to life, her arm that was mangled by the pontoon's prop began to bleed badly until Nicoletti and Carone fashioned a tourniquet. When first responders arrived they took over CPR but tragically Tirado died the following day due to her traumatic injuries.
All three teens, Carone, Storrier, and Nicoletti earned awards from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for their roles in attempting to save Wanda Tirado's life.
This story comes on the heels of the fact that recently, new evidence has been found in the case against Gary Morrone from Oakville, CT, who was charged with negligent homicide as a result of Tirado's death. Morrone was operating the pontoon boat at the time when she was struck by the boat's propeller.