MANHATTAN — The French tourist who helped save a 2-year-old girl who fell into the East River at South Street Seaport said he just reacted when he dove in after her.
"The emotion took over," Julien Duret, 29, of Lyon, France, told the Daily News. "I didn't think at all. It happened very fast. I reacted very fast....I've never done anything like that before."
Bridget Sheriden fell from the Peking ship on Saturday. Duret, an engineer on vacation, saw the fall, but didn't realize what had happened.
"I went to see what it was. There was no one around. There was no one on the boat," Duret told the News. "I approached the water and looked down. I thought it was a doll. Then I realized it wasn't a doll, it was a baby."
Then, he tossed aside his coat and dove in. He grabbed the girl who was cold and lifeless, he told the News.
Bridget's father, Dave Anderson, then jumped in.
"I gave the father the child," Duret told the News.
Duret said he's never gotten to speak to Anderson or his daughter since the incident.
And he's humble about his heroic act.
"I don't really think I'm a hero," Duret told the paper. "Anyone would do the same thing. I was just happy that I was able to help her, and I am just happy that the family has been reunited."
