Homeless man saved after being pushed into Savannah River

<p>A shivering homeless man was rescued from the Savannah River when his cries for help were heard by the crew of a tugboat.</p><p>He told police three men pushed him in the water after he refused to give them directions.</p><p>Officers found Everett Oliver, 42, clinging to a concrete piling in the river early Monday.</p><p>He was rescued about 3 a.m. when a tug boat employee called police after hearing cries for help, according to a police report.</p><p>When officers threw him a life preserver and pulled him on to the bank he was shaking uncontrollably and could barely move - signs of hypothermia, police said.</p><p>The air was in the 30s and the river was 52 degrees, according to the Coast Guard.</p><p>"The combination of the low temperatures, cold water and the uncontrollable shaking of the victim was of particular concern to the officers," Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police spokesman Lt. Mike Wilkins said.</p><p>Oliver was treated at Candler Hospital and released, according to hospital spokeswoman Betsy Yates.</p><p>Oliver told officers he was walking on River Street when three men approached and asked for directions to the Marriott.</p><p>After he refused, they became angry and pushed him into the river, the report says.</p><p>He spent about an hour in the water, police said.</p><p>Oliver told police he had been drinking and using drugs earlier in the night.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdb6b8)</p>