‘I’m here!’ How a stranger’s quick action saves boy, 7, from drowning in frigid Seneca River

Baldwinsville, NY - Ed Rohmer was walking his dog, Maddie, along the Seneca River as he does each evening when a boy caught his eye.

The boy was walking his bike across Lock 24, near open water. The child parked the bike, climbed down a big gear on the lock and dangled his feet over the river. It looked like maybe the boy was trying to reach debris floating in the water.

Rohmer, on the opposite of the river, panicked.

“Hey, don’t go down there,” Rohmer said he yelled. “That water is cold and you don’t want to fall in.”

Rohmer’s quick reaction in the next few minutes got 7-year-old Makai Bays out of the frigid water to safety.

“He saved Makai’s life 100 percent,” his mother, Taylor Provost, said today.

Makai, she said, doesn’t know how to swim.

Makai Bays fell in the Seneca River on March 27, 2025. A stranger rushed to his rescue.Provided photo

“A million things could have gone wrong, but they didn’t,” Provost told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “I’m just so grateful.”

Thursday evening, Provost, a mother of four, was at her job at a local bar and restaurant, pulling another night shift.

Her 18-year-old daughter was watching Makai. The family had moved a couple of months ago to a home by the river. Thursday evening, Makai was out exploring on his bike with two friends, his mother said.

The other two kids went ahead to a park. Makai was on his way to catch up when he ended up by the water.

When Makai fell in the water, Rohmer headed for the lock.

But his dog resisted. Maddie wouldn’t cross the metal grate.

Rohmer, 61, who works at Alta Material Handling in East Syracuse, spotted another kid skateboarding. He handed Maddie off to the child and ran toward the lock, calling 911.

Ed Rohmer, first on scene to help Makai Bays when he fell into the Seneca River in Baldwinsville.Provided photo

“I’m here,” he yelled to the water. “I’m going to help you,”

“It’s cold, it’s cold,” the boy yelled back.

Makai found a log to hold onto. Rohmer grabbed the boy’s bike and lowered it down. Rohmer told the boy to grab onto the bike and he would pull him up.

The boy’s hands were so cold it hurt to hold on, Makai told the stranger.

Rohmer urged him to try, but the boy let go. Twice more he tried, but the boy still let go.

Then Makai slipped under the water. A sneaker floated up.

“Oh my God, I’m going to have to jump in,” Rohmer recalled saying to himself. “My heart just broke when I saw that sneaker.”

That’s when a Baldwinsville police officer arrived and tried to help Rohmer with the bike. At the same time, other firefighters and rescuers arrived, Rohmer said.

One firefighter lay down and asked Rohmer to hold his legs. The firefighter reached down into the water, grabbed the child and pulled him to safety.

EMTs took over, as fire trucks, police, ambulances and Onondaga County’s Air1 helicopter swarmed around the scene. Makai gave the rescuers his address, his mom said.

Back at home, a police officer came to the door. Soon, Provost got a call at work from her daughter.

Makai’s mom rushed over in time to ride in the ambulance with her son to Upstate University Hospital.

“I’m very grateful to him and everyone who helped,” she said.

Makai was discharged from the hospital about 11 p.m. Thursday, his mom said. The boy had no injures from his calamity.

Today, the second-grader at Van Buren Elementary School, stayed home from school.

“He is still very scared,” his mother said. “His stomach keeps hurting, because he still feels scared.”

Rohmer said he’d like to meet the boy.

“I like to think I did what anyone would have done in that situation,” Rohmer said.

Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com