COLLINS, N.Y. – 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 cable television news in Buffalo reports that May Elliott was doing yard work Wednesday afternoon when she fell through the wooden board covering the well at her home in the southern Erie County town of Collins.
Neighbor Ray Colpoys 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.
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 was treated at a local hospital.
