Officers save swimmer in early hours of July 4

Anne’s Reflections/Facebook

Officer Noel Henck, far left, Fire Captain James Jacobi, in glasses, and officer Nick Rooney rescued a distressed swimmer who was pinned to the jetty at the Long Beach Boulevard beach last Saturday.

Anne’s Reflections/Facebook

Two Long Beach police officers and a volunteer firefighter rescued a swimmer in distress last Saturday, one of several rescues over the busy July Fourth weekend.

At 6:02 a.m., police were alerted by a passerby on the beach to a swimmer struggling in the water just east of the jetty at Long Beach Boulevard. The victim was a man in his early 30s from Queens, according to Lt. Eric Cregeen, a police spokesman. A second swimmer, also from Queens, was believed to have been with the victim but managed to make it to shore unassisted by rescuers.

Officers Nicholas Rooney and Noel Henck, along with city worker Jake Jacobi, a volunteer firefighter, entered the water and rescued the man, who had been thrown into the jetty by the incoming tide and surf, Cregeen said. According to Cregeen, the victim was treated at the scene by the Long Beach Fire Department.

“He was treated for superficial abrasions that he got as a result of being thrown against the rocks,” Cregeen said. The swimmer refused to be taken to a hospital, the LBFD reported on its Facebook page.

Swimming is permitted at the beach park only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., when lifeguards are on duty, and both men were issued summonses for swimming after hours, Cregeen said.