Two Jersey Shore police officers jumped into action to save a woman and her granddaughter when they were trapped in the water during dangerous rip currents at a beach in Margate, New Jersey.
Dawn Waters told NBC10 she and her 12-year-old daughter Maddie, both from the Poconos, were visiting the Vendome Avenue Beach late Saturday afternoon in Margate. Maddie was in the water as Waters motioned for her to come back to the shore. Suddenly, a giant wave took the girl down.
“She was gone. She just totally disappeared,” Waters said. “And I went running in to try to save her.”
As Waters went in to rescue her granddaughter, she became trapped in the rip currents as well. They both managed to hang on to a stormwater outfall pipe. Beaches in Margate are unguarded until next year however, meaning no current lifeguards were on duty.
“I called for angels and literally, instantly there were two police officers running into the water,” Waters said.
Margate Police officer Brendan Campbell, a former lifeguard, raced into the water. Margate Police Sgt. Christopher Taroncher dashed into the churning surf as well.
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“I made a split decision to go out in the ocean,” Campbell said.
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Both officers were in full uniform at the time of the rescue.
“The soaking wet clothes, the duty belt, the vest,” Campbell said. “I mean it made everything a lot more difficult than it had to be.”
As both officers moved through the ocean, they were surprised by a sudden drop as the water quickly went from knee deep to the point where they could no longer stand.
“From the storms we’ve had over the last week,” Ptl. Campbell said. “It just makes huge holes and that water just rips underneath the pipe.”
The two officers, along with two Good Samaritans and Margate firefighters, all helped rescue Waters and her granddaughter.
“I would love to thank everybody,” Waters said. “God bless them.”
For Sergeant Taroncher, the rescue was almost instinctual.
“You just see two people that need your help,” Taroncher said. “And that’s pretty much all you’re focused on.”
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