OCEAN CITY, Md.— Ocean City Police are commending two beachgoers and an off-duty beach patrol employee who rescued three distressed swimmers from the ocean this weekend.
Ocean City Communications received a call around at 6 p.m. on Friday about swimmers in distress in the area of 90th Street and the beach. Responding officers said two Virginia men and one off-duty beach patrol employee were pulling three women from the water when police arrived.
According to authorities, witnesses said the women remained in the water and became visibly distressed nearly 10 minutes after beach patrol had instructed them to leave the water. Investigators said the citizen rescuers, 39-year-old Christopher Bourdeau of Vienna and 43-year-old Robert Miller of Falls Church, Va., had been at the beach with their families when they entered the water to rescue one of the swimmers.
According to police, Miller and Bourdeau got the first woman safely to the shore break and returned to rescue the second swimmer when an off-duty beach patrol lieutenant arrived and rescued the third swimmer.
The three swimmers, identified as a 21-year-old from Bowie, Md, a 19-year-old from Woodstock, Md., and a 20-year-old from Silver Spring, Md., were transported by Ocean City Emergency Services to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin. Two of the women were treated and released but the third swimmer, who went into full cardiac arrest during the incident, is still listed in critical condition.
The Ocean City Police Department commended the citizens involved in the rescue of these women and said Miller, Bourdeau, and the off-duty beach patrol employee are responsible for preventing a serious tragedy. Police remind residents and visitors to use caution in the water and encourage beachgoers to leave their feet in the sand if a lifeguard is not in the stand.
