2 Teens Rescued Off Asbury Park Beach Saturday Morning

ASBURY PARK, NJ — An Asbury Park Police officer, plus Asbury Park firefighters, saved two teenagers in the ocean early Saturday morning in Asbury Park.

The first 911 call came in at 6:30 a.m. Saturday: Two teenagers went into the ocean at Fourth Avenue Beach, near Convention Hall, and were in distress, according to the Asbury Park Fire Department.

The teens had entered the water hours before lifeguards assumed duty for the day.

A crowd of about 300 people had gathered on the beach when police and firefighters got there, said the fire department.

Two police officers, John Vail and Herline Valcin, arrived on scene and Vail jumped into the water and swam out. He reached the first teen, who was "fatigued," but told him to swim back to shore on his own, as the second teen, a 14-year-old boy, was getting carried much farther out.

The police officer continued swimming out to reach the second teen. By the time he reached the boy, the teen had been carried 30 yards past the Fourth Avenue jetty.

At that point, Asbury Park firefighters John Britton and Christian Manning, both trained rescue swimmers, ran into the water and they swam out to the police officer and the teen. When the two rescue swimmers got there, the police officer was holding the teen's head above water.

The firefighters brought the police officer and the teen boy ashore.

The other teen, his age ungiven, had become extremely tired swimming back to the beach on his own and a third Asbury Park firefighter entered the water and helped him reach the beach.

The 14-year-old was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for further evaluation. Vail and the second teen did not need to be taken to a hospital.