Boy Rescued From Water by Beach-Goers
A Ventura boy is alive thanks to the swift action of some beach-goers, authorities said.
About 2:30 p.m. Sunday, state beach lifeguards from Harbor Cove Beach responded to a 911 call of a drowning victim at South Jetty Beach, an unguarded stretch south of Ventura Harbor.
The 15-year-old boy had apparently suffered a seizure in the water, authorities said. He was brought to shore by two girls, Holly Niles, 13, and Jennifer Revell, 12, both of Burbank.
“When I found him, he was face down,” Niles said. “I turned him over and his lips were blue. Then I screamed for help.”
“The boy had a heartbeat but no respiration,” said Niles’ mother, Shari Stocker, a medical assistant.
Stocker and a friend, Mary Dempsey, also of Burbank, arrived at South Jetty Beach with their daughters about 2 p.m.
Dempsey, who spent 10 years as a pediatric nurse, said she was glad to be able to use her medical skills to care for the boy until lifeguards arrived.
Ventura Fire Department paramedics took the boy, who had regained consciousness, by ambulance to Ventura County Medical Center for further treatment. The boy was expected to survive, authorities said.
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