COLLINS, N.Y. (AP) – A western New York man is being credited for saving his 76-year-old neighbor after she fell into a 20-foot-deep well on her rural property.
YNN-TV in Buffalo reports that May Elliott was doing yard work Wednesday afternoon when she fell through the wooden board covering the well.
Neighbor Ray Colpoys had heard her calling for help and held on to her for several minutes before Elliott managed to hook her arm and leg around a pipe inside the well.
Firefighters eventually pulled Elliot out of the well in the southern Erie County town of Collins.
Colpoys says Elliot was up to her neck in water and would have drowned if she hadn’t grabbed onto the pipe.
Elliot suffered leg injuries and has been treated at a hospital.
