Clinton police have found two men who disappeared after their paddle broke during a rafting trip from Long Island.
Police said William Brandon McCrerry, a 33-year-old North Carolina native who has been living on Long Island, and Angel Hernandez, 33, of Poughkeepsie, New York, went out on the water near Green Port, Long Island, in a small inflatable raft on Wednesday afternoon and they began drifting after their paddle broke.
Around 7 p.m., one of the men was able to call a friend from a cell phone to say there was a problem with the raft. That friend then called police and the Coast Guard.
The two men drifted across Long Island Sound, ended up off the coast of Clinton around 4 a.m. on Thursday and came ashore near Groveway, where they knocked on a resident's door just before 4 a.m. to ask for help, according to police.
Police said Hernandez stayed at the home after the resident called 911, but McCrerry took off running. Hernandez was taken to the Middlesex Shoreline Clinic to be treated for possible hypothermia.
Officials started searching for McCrerry, who was found sleeping in a garbage can just before 11 a.m. in the area of 9 Groveway, police said. He told police he was exhausted and climbed into the trash bin to get out of the rain.
McCrerry said he had no idea authorities were looking for him, according to police.
He was also taken to the Middlesex Shoreline Clinic for a medical evaluation. Police said he might have been suffering "psychological effects," as well as hypothermia.
