A 13-year-old was carried 450 feet from shore by a rip current in the Atlantic Ocean off of Neptune Beach, Florida, on May 17, 2020. Rough conditions made it difficult for him to stay afloat. Nineteen-year-old college student Ross C. Johnson of Jacksonville, Florida, was at the beach and, upon seeing the boy, entered the water despite 4-foot waves. He swam to the boy, grasped his forearm and towed him back toward shore, but the boy repeatedly submerged him in an effort to keep himself above the surface of the water. Johnson repositioned the boy, to hold him across the chest and then back-stroked toward the beach. At about 75 feet from shore, Johnson was nearly exhausted and struggled with keeping them both above the water’s surface, but two men took the boy from Johnson and brought him to the beach.
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