Good Samaritans help to pull driver from Charles River

In a dramatic rescue from the Charles River, police and several passersby jumped into the frigid water yesterday to save an Arlington man who appeared to have had a seizure behind the wheel of his sport utility vehicle and collided with a car before plunging into the water.

The driver, Kevin Im , 23, has a medical history of having seizures and seemed disoriented when he was pulled to shore, said Cambridge Deputy Fire Chief Frank Murphy , who was at the scene by Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side of the river near the Larz Anderson Bridge . No one was seriously injured in the crash, police said.

"He appeared to be in a state of malaise . . . and didn't know where he was," Murphy said.

Cambridge firefighters also recovered a plasma television, apparently just purchased, from the back of his car, said a State Police spokesman. They placed the television, which was in a soaked box, back inside Im's car before it was hauled away.

It all happened quickly, said Marc O'Meara, a landscaper who was driving home from work shortly after the accident occurred around 12:50 p.m.

"I turned the corner, and I saw a wrecked car off to the side and a car floating in the river," O'Meara said.

According to State Police reports, traffic heading westbound on Soldiers Field Road was slowing to a stop when Jean Hogan , 57, driving a 2005 Saab, was struck from behind by a 2007 Honda Pilot, driven by Im. After the collision, the Honda swerved off the roadway to the right, over a grassy patch and into the Charles River.

" I have a chain in the back of my car I thought we could use to pull the car out," O'Meara said.

But the car was sinking and out of reach, O'Meara said. Three good Samaritans, including Guy Stuart from Cambridge, swam out to assist.

"It was cold, very cold," Stuart said in a telephone interview, but he declined to comment further.

Seconds later, officers from the Cambridge, Boston, and Harvard University police departments, as well as State Police, arrived at the scene, all helping Im out of his SUV.

"The civilians who showed up did assist us," said Cambridge police spokesman Frank Pasquarello . "Compliments to them."

Hogan and Im were taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital with minor injuries, and Cambridge police officers Darin Cromwell and Chris Ponte were treated at Cambridge Hospital for hypothermia and released, police said.

Megan Tench can be reached at mtench@globe.com.