'Someone's gotta go in,' said man who saved a stranger who drove into Hamilton Harbour

WARNING: This story contains distressing details

A 78-year-old man almost drowned after he drove down the boat launch at Bayfront Park around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. 

Shawn MacNeil and Wes Kassem were fishing at Bayfront Park when they noticed the man’s white car half-submerged in the water.

Hamilton police say MacNeil, who jumped in to rescue the man, is “a brave citizen” who “made every effort to rescue the driver”, and that the driver was “taken to hospital in non-life threatening condition”.

“We never really fish that spot,” Kassem told CBC Hamilton.

“Honestly, that was a fishing trip I will never forget,” MacNeil said.

Kassem said he didn’t see the car drive down the boat