Two men jump into Schuylkill River to rescue runaway dog

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It was a Labor Day river rescue right in front of the KYW Newsradio studios at 2400 Market Street, when two men and a dog ended up in the Schuylkill River on Monday. Both men, and man’s best friend, were able to climb safely out of the water.

It happened in Center City, just south of the Market Street bridge, near the Schuylkill River Trail. Jayah Washington of University City was walking her dog Bentley, a mixed breed Maltese-Yorkshire terrier, along the trail when he broke loose around 11:30 a.m.

“Apparently he just jumped into the river,” Washington said.

They were up near Arch Street when Bentley took off running.

“I was holding him, and I was pulling his collar because he was barking at another dog, and he slipped out of his harness,” she said.

“He was just running. And as I was coming back, people were like, ‘Oh, who's that? Your dog? He's out. He's moving so fast.’”

Into the water Bentley went.

“He just made it all the way to the river. Yes, but thank God to the two people that jumped in the river to save him, because that was crazy,” Washington said.

One of those rescuers is Troy Fritzinger of Allentown.

“Actually, more of a cat person, honestly, but I definitely — I love all animals.”

Fritzinger was running by when he saw a crowd gathering.

“Ran about five miles. On my way back, saw there was a dog swimming in the middle of the water. Everybody crowding around to see what was going on. Nobody was jumping in to do anything, so I jumped in, swam in, brought him back over, and two other people helped me pull him out.”

Fitzinger said he had to swim out about 50 yards, a little past the midway point, to catch up with Bentley.

“I ran out of breath about 10 yards away,” he said. “So somebody else, luckily, jumped in, grabbed him and swam up to the ladder, and two other people pulled me out. But I was definitely out of breath, exhausted by the end of it.”

A relieved Washington said she had faith someone would help her.

“I mean, there was a park, so I knew … that somebody was going to grab him. And there's so many people and so many dogs, like, so much going on,” she said.

“But I was just like — oh, my gosh! He's just such a hyper dog. He's older, but he's very — he acts like a puppy, so he gets really excited and rowdy.”

Medics checked Fitzinger out after the swim, but he declined further treatment. He says he really just wanted a shower after all the excitement.

“You know, a lot of people won't believe it, but I've been swimming in there before, just for fun,” he said.

“Not bad for a Labor Day. Good day off.”