By Isser Berg – Hamodia
Photo: Melissa DeRosa/Twitter
NEW YORK – A stranded motorist on a snowy highway Thursday afternoon got help from an unexpected source: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Noach Fisher, a Pupa Chassid from Williamsburg, and his nephew were driving along the Taconic State Parkway to Pupa Yeshiva in Westchester, at around 3:00 p.m. Thursday, in the midst of a snowstorm, Fisher recalled in a phone interview with Hamodia. Fisher was driving a minivan, and his nephew was driving a sedan.
Suddenly, a motorist in front of them made a short stop; Fisher’s nephew had to stop short as well, and found himself stuck in a snowy ditch.
Fisher then got behind the wheel of his nephew’s car and tried to pull out, but was unable to.
“A New York state trooper was behind me,” said Fisher. “He started trying to pull me out, but couldn’t. Then, we saw a HELP truck passing [NYS Department of Transportation HELP trucks drive on highways to assist stranded motorists]; the truck also tried to help, and he was able to pull me out just a little bit.”
After half an hour of largely unsuccessful work, three SUVs driving on the highway suddenly pulled over.
A passenger in one of them rolled down the window and asked Fisher, “Do you need help?”
Pointing the trooper and the HELP truck, Fisher said, “I already have help.” But the stranger in the SUV insisted, “Let me help you.”
He exited the car and tied the chain from his SUV to Fisher’s. “The man was under my car and working for 15 minutes, tying the chain, pressing the buttons, instructing me ‘turn right,’ ‘turn left,’ ” said Fisher. Finally, at about 3:45, he succeeded in freeing the car.
Throughout the ordeal, Fisher saw people from the other SUVs, including security personnel, standing around and snapping photos.
“I had no idea why,” recalled Fisher.
Finally, after the car was freed, Fisher turned to the helpful stranger.
“Thank you. What’s your name?”
“Andrew Cuomo.”
“The governor?”
“Yes.”
“You’re kidding me?”
Fisher, who says he never uses internet or social media, did not believe that the man who had been under his car in the snow for 15 minutes was none other than New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Fisher asked the trooper if the man was the governor; the trooper replied in the affirmative, and Fisher again exclaimed, “I don’t believe it!”
Finally, Fisher’s nephew snapped a photo of the man and sent it to a friend, who indeed confirmed the governor’s identity.
Later, Cuomo’s chief of staff posted photos of the incident to social media, and Fisher’s phone started blowing up. “I’ve had 300 friends call me in the past hour and a half,” he told Hamodia. He was perhaps the only person in New York that had still not yet seen the photos.
The unsuspecting motorist who suddenly went viral on social media told Hamodia he would just like to thank Gov. Cuomo for stopping and assisting him.
Understand your skepticism, but a governor is not a private citizen. Practically everything & anything he’d do would make it to social media, just like the president. Also we’re supposed to judge everyone including Gentiles in the side of merit.
Its really nice to see,
He got under the car.
All politics aside
A good deed done
Thanks governor for leading by example
yes i know that story although i doubt its true
In kids speak. Boy was saved spiritually (well kindof he was learning to much and risking his health) by the prime minister and he didnt recognize him
Zayyah Git!
Andrew and your dad were born leaders and always friends of all New Yorkers and the Jewish community Shabbat shalom
Just a regular old, opportunistic, publicity stunt…
kol tivu d’avdin haumos oivdei gilulim legarmaihu avdin. he needs pr for the next office he runs for. if he was doing a favor lishma it would not have made it onto social media.
When Andrew Cuomo worked as a US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, under President Bill Clinton, he was responsible for forcing banks to lend to many not-creditworthy people for mortgages. In other words, because of his policies, lending for mortgages was expanded to many, many people who really could not afford the mortgages they were granted, all in the name of supposed “economic justice.” What happened was disastrous: Many, many people, in over their heads, could not keep up the payments and defaulted on their mortgages, leading to the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1990s. Because of that… Read more »
I live in Grandview next to the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Governor Cuomo sent a special rep to he Bridge Engineers to help us get a noise barrier that wasn’t on the plans. A great person and a true Mensch who cares about helping people..
….how did the governor feel that there was a ny resident who didn’t recognize who he was.
Only with a chassidishe yid: Guy says I’m the governor. The troopers say he’s the governor. Obviously not a prank.
Chassidishe yid: “Nah. Dreyst du mir a kop….”
Someone should make a “Shmuel Kunda” tape out of this story.
wooooooooooowwww
The Governor is a man of many talents. Could be a future Head of State. Interesting story.
Only In New York!