An off-duty Philadelphia Police sergeant died Tuesday afternoon after his car plunged off Kelly Drive and into the Schuylkill River.
"I'm very saddened," said Mayor Michael Nutter. "The whole city is, to lose one of our officers."
It happened around 4 p.m. north of Boathouse Row when 55-year-old Stephen Naughton -- who was headed home from work -- veered off the road and into the river, authorities said.
"His vehicle crossed the southbound lanes and ended up in the Schuylkill River," said Lt. Ray Evers.
Three or four passersby including an off-duty female officer and a medical student jumped into the water to attempt to rescue Naughton, according to witnesses.
“We were standing on the roof and two of the guys went down and we were able to pull him through the window,” said Good Samaritan Shawn Duff. “It took minutes but we were able to get him up to shore.”
Naughton had no pulse and was unresponsive, Duff said.
"One of the female bikers she started to do CPR against the ladder at the shore," Duff said.
By 4:25 everyone was out of the water, officials said. But it was too late for Naughton -- a 31-year veteran of the force assigned to the Community Relations Unit. The father of two died from cardiac arrest after being rushed to Hahnemann Hospital, officials said.
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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Nutter rushed to the hospital to offer their support.
The car -- a silverish non-police sedan -- was towed out of the water around 5:30. It wasn't clear what caused Naughton to veer into the river.
All the Good Samaritans who stopped to help Naughton are expected to be OK, cops said.
On Wednesday the official cause of death was a heart attack and drowning, authorities said. It was unclear though if the heart attack was the exact cause for the car veering off the road.
Earlier this year two men were rescued by passersby who jumped in the Schuylkill after their car ended up in the river.
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