A man with a reported head injury who was found lying in a creek bed by a family on an afternoon hike was rescued after a coordinated effort by numerous local volunteer responders.

Newtown Police Captain Bryan Bishop told The Newtown Bee that at 12:25 pm July 24, Officers Benjamin Mulhall and Michael McGowan were dispatched to an injured person in a creek at the Orchard Hill Preserve.

The hikers discovered the individual in the water and called 911, according to emergency radio dispatches. One of them then returned to an adjacent parking area to meet responders and bring them back to the scene.

There, officers found a 45-year-old male from Newtown injured and partially submerged in the water at the bottom of a ravine. The person was struggling to keep their head out of the water, so Officer Mulhall entered the water to keep the person’s head and neck stable and out of the water until Fire and EMS responders could take over.

Andrew White of Botsford Fire Rescue, who was on the call, said the man was roughly a half mile into the nature preserve and slipped on some rocks and fell, resulting in a serious injury. The person told arriving responders he was unable to walk.

White said Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue was then called in with the company’s off-road quad. The injured man was loaded into a Stokes basket and hauled up a steep incline using rope rigging. The basket was then hooked to the quad and brought to a waiting ambulance.

“It took some doing, he was down a 20 to 25 foot ledge,” said White. “We had to get him through five foot deep water and up a hill. It was a good job by everyone involved to get him out of there and to the hospital as quickly as they did.”

At this time, police have no further update on the person’s condition.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.