Rookie lifeguard, family members save swimmer BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer Jessica Mejia, 16, a lifeguard at Seven Presidents Park, made an off-duty rescue of a family at the beach with the help of her father and brother. LONG BRANCH - When off-duty rookie lifeguard Jessica Mejia witnessed a man struggling in the water after hours at Seven Presidents beach, her instincts took over and she ran to his rescue. The rescue turned into a joint family effort when Mejia was joined by her father and brother in the unsafe water conditions at the beach Aug. 11 and together saved a drowning man's life. "This was my first extreme rescue," said Jessica Mejia, a 16-year-old Long Branch resident who started work as a lifeguard at Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park three weeks ago. "I have never seen a situation like this before," Mejia said. "This was definitely a challenge, but the man needed help, so I just went out there." Mejia, her 20-year-old brother Brian and their parents were getting ready to leave Seven Presidents beach on Saturday when they saw a man struggling in the water. It was 5:45 p.m. and lifeguards had been off duty since 5 p.m., Mejia explained. Throughout the day, the beaches had been red-flagged and swimmers were not permitted in the water due to rough surf and a rip current, according to Mike Fowler, lifeguard supervisor at Seven Presents Oceanfront Park, which is part of the Monmouth County Park System. That didn't stop Mejia from swimming to the man in need. "I was waiting for my brother to finish surfing, and my mother said she saw someone in the water drowning," Mejia said. "She ran to get my father and I just went right in after the man," Mejia said. Since she was off duty, Mejia had no life-saving equipment, but said her initial instinct was to help the man in need. "When I got out there, he was already going under water," she said, "So I pulled him up and told him I was a lifeguard and to stay calm. "I had to keep him calm and tell him not to hold onto me because I did not have any equipment," Mejia said. As Mejia was talking to the victim and keeping him calm, her father Miguel, a former beach captain at the Monmouth County Park System, her brother, a current lifeguard at Sandy Hook, and another bystander entered the water to assist in the rescue. "[The bystander] brought in a body board and my father came in with a surfboard," Mejia said. "They both grabbed an arm of the man, and then my brother came in and we all worked to bring him in." Mejia said that the man had gotten caught in a rip tide and was being pulled away from the shore. Mejia said she does not know the name of the man she rescued. "He was too shocked to say anything," Mejia said. But the rescue is something that Mejia said she will never forget. "It was my first couple of weeks as a lifeguard," Mejia said. "I was very proud of myself. It was really a good feeling." Fowler, Mejia's supervisor, said he is also proud of Jessica and her family members. "It was a dramatic rescue, and the man probably would have drowned if not for their efforts," Fowler said. "It makes me very proud and grateful to be able to offer this training to young people. "I am extremely proud of Jessica and her two family members who came to her aid," he said. The rescue is an example of public awareness that people should never go in the water when a lifeguard is not present, Fowler said. "I am thankful that Jessica saved this man's life and that she made a difference between life and death," he said.