While some people are born a hero, 21 year-old Highland Mills native Kieran Hagan is in training to become one. The senior finance major at Pace University was working as a lifeguard on Wednesday, March 5 at the University’s indoor pool when Bryan Zirman suffered a sudden cardiac episode and slipped beneath the water in the deep end of the pool.
Zirman, a Briarcliff Manor resident who is in his sixties, suffered a heart attack and sunk about 8 feet down in the 13-foot deep end. “I saw bubbles come up, and that was really the big red flag for me,” said Hagan. “I was like, ‘something’s really wrong.’ And so I run over, I look down, he’s just kind of sinking. And so that’s when I jumped in to go get him.”
In that critical moment, lifeguards Kieran Hagan and fellow Pace student and lifeguard Angelo DeAugustino acted without hesitation. Hagan, a senior and defender on Pace’s nationally ranked men’s lacrosse team, pulled Zirman from eight feet below the surface, with DeAugustino assisting to bring him safely out of the water.
At their side was full-time aquatic director Kate Palladino, leading the emergency response with calm expertise. Together, they administered CPR, used the AED, and worked relentlessly until first responders from the Mount Pleasant Police Department and Pleasantville Ambulance Corps arrived to take over.
“When I pulled him out of the water, his face was like, purple and green,” Hagan recalled. “I was really worried for his life at that time, but I just didn’t see how the situation could get better. At that point in time, I didn’t know that we could help this guy. I just did what my training told me to do up to that point. But towards the end, while they’re pulling them out on a stretcher, the color kind of came back a little bit, and he had a pulse and was sporadically breathing.”
But this is more than a rescue story. Bryan Zirman, his wife, and their daughter are all proud Pace alumni. His daughter earned her graduate degree just last year; his wife currently serves as the Village Clerk of Briarcliff Manor, where Zirman once served as trustee.
On the evening of April 11, just before the Pace Men’s Lacrosse team hosts Bentley, the University will honor Hagan, DeAugustino, Palladino and members of the Mount Pleasant Police Department and Pleasantville Ambulance Corps with proclamations.
As for Hagan, he will graduate in May and continue his education in U.S. Army Officer Training School where he hopes to become a commissioned U.S. Army officer.
