TAE students jumped into action after a man fell off his roof

ELMIRA HEIGHTS, N.Y. ( WETM ) – A man who lives alone and fell off his roof in his backyard didn’t expect anyone to be around to help him. That’s when students from Thomas A. Edison High School who were in gym class on the school’s track jumped over the 6-foot-tall fence between them and tried to help in any way possible.

Ken Dennison is a retired roofer. He was climbing a ladder to get on top of his garage to clean up stuff that had fallen onto it from the overhanging trees when he slipped off and fell onto his chest.

Dennison said that he could barely breathe and couldn’t speak, and that’s when the unexpected happened; students came jumping over the fence to help. They helped move things, sat him up, and got help to call an ambulance.

“That’s what impressed me the most I mean, I was in pain but to know that those kids just jumped over the fence without even thinking,” said Dennison. “They just came to my rescue. I really, really am thankful for that.”

The kids say they heard a noise and saw a man lying on the ground in pain.

“Basically, we were outside for gym class running around the track,” said Freshman Connor Lasko. “Me and my buddy we were just kind of taking our time and then I hear a sound.”

Another freshman, Tyler Clark, added, “We heard him fall. We look over, wondered what it was, and then we saw him on the ground. Greg then runs over to get our teacher while me and Connor are hopping the fence. Then by the time we’re over there, we’re already moving stuff out of the way and making sure he’s okay.”

“Obviously I thought he was hurt, you know, he couldn’t breathe or anything,” said Greg Golden, a sophomore at the school. “I helped him up, and we called the ambulance. It was the only thing we could really do.”

Dennison ended up being transported to Corning and getting a CT Scan. It was determined that he had to go to the trauma center at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre. He had three broken ribs and a broken sternum. He had to stay there for a few days but has now been released and wanted to thank the kids for what they had done.

This all unfolded on April 16. He will be retiring on May 1. The students who were part of that gym class sent him a get-well card, with an added message wishing him a happy retirement.

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