Lawrence man Vincent Parr dies trying to save mother and her son in New Hampshire river
ALBANY, N.H. - A man from Massachusetts drowned trying to save his wife and her child in New Hampshire.
State Police say 37-year-old Vincent Parr of Lawrence jumped into the Swift River in Albany, N.H. around 12:30 p.m. Sunday to help his wife and her adult son from a previous marriage after they became stuck.
Investigators said Parr ended up stuck himself. Police said the woman and her 19-year-old son made it to shore while bystanders pulled Parr out and started CPR, but he died.
Becky Parr, Vicent's mother, said her son's actions trying to rescue others did not surprise her.
"He knew he had to do what was right at the cost that he paid for it. And he didn't care about the cost that he paid for it," she said. "I applaud him for that because personally I'm not sure there's a lot of people out there we hear about being heroes. Those are a very special breed of people and not all of us are cut out to do that sort of thing."
Becky Parr said Vincent was at the river with the woman, who he was married to but had since separated from, and her three children.
"It was supposed to be a fun day," she said, adding that she has not yet learned exactly what was happening when Vincent went into the river. "He did not hesitate, he did not even have time, in my mind knowing my son the way I know him, to say 'Oh my god, I could die if I do this.' He did not think that. He did not think 'How will my family think if I die?' It was like, 'I can't leave this and watch this, and be responsible to have this in my brain knowing that I stood at the shore and did nothing.'"
The drowning came five days after a mother from Lynn died trying to saver her 10-year-old son in Franconia Falls, New Hampshire.
This is now the third drowning in New Hampshire in a week.
A man died in Canterbury Friday after his canoe capsized. His fiancée survived.
