Elderly Man Rescued After Sinking Into Staten Island Swamp

Officials search for Alfred Cutting, a man who was nearly taken by the Staten Island swamp.

Sure, people love extolling the virtues of the road less traveled. I get it! Trying new things can be a great thing, and often leads to growth.

But taking another route can also occasionally lead to something uncomfortable and life-threatening...like sinking into a swamp. That's what happened to 83-year-old Alfred Cutting, a man in Staten Island whose seemingly harmless idea to take a shortcut required helicopter intervention.

CBS News reports that on Thursday afternoon, Cutting missed his bus on the way to a doctor's appointment, and decided to walk there instead. He then remembered a shortcut he'd taken in the past, and wandered over there—except that a lot's changed since he last took that route decades ago, namely the fact that it's now a swamp capable of swallowing people.

Cutting said that he fell backwards whle walking and was "drowning" ears-deep in the marsh, yet was somehow able to call 911 on his flip phone for help. Authorities eventually found Cutting near Seaview and Mason Avenues "unable to free himself from a swampy area," according to the NYPD.

Authorities then used a helicopter to hoist Cutting up from the wetlands, as The New York Post reports. An officer harnessed Cutting to himself, then pulled him up and out of the muck. He was then taken to Staten Island University Hospital North, where he sustained minor injuries and is probably rethinking all of his life's shortcuts.