Man Who Rescued Baby From Toms River Crash Honored

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- With a peaceful smile, William Copes cuddled Sussie Eisdorfer, touching his forehead to hers, and closed his eyes for a moment.

"She is such a blessing," he said, as the baby girl's father, David, stood nearby.

"Yes, she is," David Eisdorfer said. "She's Daddy's little girl. She keeps me going."

The tot with dark hair and deep brown eyes touched Copes' face, exploring it like 6-month-olds do, and smiled back.

"I think she remembers you," David Eisdorfer said.

It's likely Eisdorfer will make certain his daughter remembers the man who rescued her on a sunny March morning from a crash that took the life of the little girl's mother.

William Copes, 51, of Lakewood, was honored by Toms River officials Tuesday night during the Township Council meeting for his actions on March 9 and received a standing ovation as he was called to the front of the room to be recognized.

Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher praised the bravery of Copes, who witnessed the crash that killed Leah Eisdorfer, 28, when the Honda Odyssey she was driving careened off New Hampshire Avenue, hit several trees and rolled down an embankment not far from the Eisdorfers' new home.

Copes stopped immediately and went to see how he could help, going down into the retention basin to the minivan. Hearing the baby's cries, Copes crawled into the overturned vehicle, where he discovered Leah Eisdorfer was already dead. But he was able to cut the straps of the baby's safety seat and remove her from the wreckage, Toms River Police Chief Mitchell Little said.

"I was one of the first on the scene," Little said. As he arrived, Copes was coming out of the vehicle with the baby cradled in his arms.

"His arms were all scratched and cut, but the baby was safe," Little said. "We can't thank him enough for what he did."

"As a first responder, we deal with this every day," Council President Brian Kubiel said. "For a citizen to do it is special."

But the highlight of the ceremony was when David Eisdorfer pushed the stroller carrying Sussie to the front of the room, producing audible gasps and "awws" from the audience.

"She doesn't say much," David Eisdorfer said, "but this is a letter from her that I know she would like me to read," and he read a note thanking Copes for stepping in to rescue her.

Outside the meeting, Eisdorfer said when authorities broke the news to him about the accident, his first question was about Sussie.

"I asked how the baby was," he said, "and they told me she was OK, that she had a couple of cuts but that she was going to be fine."

"And then I realized the bad part," he said. "It was very bittersweet, to have my daughter but lose my wife."

Leah Eisdorfer loved to sing and play the piano, David Eisdorfer said, and they had a recording studio where she had recorded a number of sessions where she was singing, he said -- something that has been a comfort to the couple's older children.

"My daughter (one of the older children) said she missed my wife's voice, so we listened to some of the recordings of her singing for about half an hour the other night," David Eisdorfer said. "I think it helped us both."

"It (the musical recordings) is a gift she left us," he said.

But Tuesday, he was more focused on the gift given to him by the selfless act of William Copes.

"We can never thank you enough," Eisdorfer said, a sentiment echoed by the family members who joined him and who hugged and thanked Copes.

"I never thought about it," Copes said as he accepted the accolades during the meeting. "It's something I hope any human being would do for another human being."