A Near-Drowning at Stearns Beach: Heroes Come Forth

[XLFD]

In July, a school principal from Iowa drowns out at Ludington State Park; on the afternoon of August 28th, a drowning at Ludington's Stearns Beach was narrowly averted, thanks to the heroic efforts of four teenagers including Ludington's own Brayden Lewis.  They tell us the story in this video:

“We’re all good swimmers, so I don’t really see no reason for us not to go in and get the guy,” said Brayden Lewis.

The boys worked together using a water floatie to stay above the rough waves.

“[The waves were] probably about three, four, five feet. And it was just one after another. It was like two steps forward, big wave picks us up, brings us right back to where we started again,” said Joey Baxter.

The boys got out to the man and got him to the MCSO boat when it arrived. Police said he was unresponsive, and the deputies and officer immediately started CPR.

“He was unresponsive. Nothing. You could hear the screams of the Coast Guard, ‘Come on, stay with me, man, come on.’ And you could hear the pumps on his chest,” said Gary Jacobs.

They brought the man into a boat launch, where Fire and EMS took over lifesaving measures and transported him to the hospital. He was treated at the Corewell Health Ludington Hospital ER before being flown to Corewell Butterworth Hospital.

They were glad to have helped, but the boys left wondering if the man would be alright. On Thursday during school, one of their moms messaged to let them know he had survived.

Looking back, they said what they did was probably a little reckless, but they were glad to help.

“You might think you are a good swimmer, but with these wild waters, you never fully are. So always take an account of that,” said Bradley Schneyder. “And if something happens like what happened yesterday, don’t be like us. Call for professionals first.”

Police said as of Thursday, the man is still in critical but stable condition.

"If something happens like what happened yesterday, don’t be like us. Call for professionals first..."

Due to the lack of lifeguards at Stearns Park, the nearest professional was many minutes away.  If not for the courage of these young men, obviously risking their own lives, this would have been a recovery mission for the sheriff's boat, rather than what appears to be a rescue, and hopefully, a full recovery from the near-drowning incident by nature's almost-victim.  

Ludington's officials spend as much money on what they call the "beach patrol" who appear to have no real purpose other than to be a police presence at the park.  This incident could easily have led to more than just one death, had conditions been just a little worse.  Lifeguards provided with the latest life-saving equipment and trained at our own high school may have easily averted what led to this almost-tragedy we keep seeing happen at our local beach.  Let's make our officials start talking about how we can get this program back to our shores.