Video: Heroic lifeguards rescue boy from pounding California waves

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) – Crowds were gathered on Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, to enjoy warm July weather last weekend when lifeguards jumped into action for a heart-pounding water rescue.

Tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific Ocean generated a long-period swell with towering sets of 10-foot waves.

“I looked out toward the ocean, and I saw the white foam with a little black dot just getting pulled back out. I ran up to the lifeguard tower. Another gentleman saw the same thing. We told [the lifeguard] someone is being swept and carried out to the ocean,” witness Scott Vander Dussen told Nexstar’s KRON.

The “black dot” was a 10-year-old boy who was being pummeled by waves, thrashed through thick white water, and overpowered by rip currents.

California State Parks officials said the child lost his balance and was “knocked down by a wave.”

After lifeguards ran into the water toward the boy, Vander Dussen began recording with his camera. His video shows one lifeguard bear-hugging the boy as both are swept by relentless waves.

Eventually, two lifeguards were able to drag the exhausted boy out........

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