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Atlantic City police posted video footage of one of the rescues here on Facebook.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, Tourism District Unit officers responded to the Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard beach for reports of several young swimmers in the ocean in distress.
As police officers arrived, all of the children had been rescued from the water.
Dijon Brooks, joined by two other Good Samaritans, entered the ocean and rescued a 4-year-old girl, police said. The girl was transported to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Division, for evaluation. The other children were evaluated at the scene. The two other men who entered the ocean to rescue the children were not identified.
On Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Tourism District Unit officers responded to the Virginia Avenue beach for a report of three youths in the water. Another Good Samaritan, Stephen Moore, of Clark Summit, Pennsylvania, went in the water to assist the three siblings, two girls, 11 and 9, and one boy, 8, of Philadelphia, PA.
Police Officers Ramir Hayes and Brian Victoria-Garcia arrived as Moore called for help. He and the children were stuck on a sewage outfall pipe as the waves continued to crash in, police said Officers Hayes and Victoria-Garcia immediately rushed in the water to assist. The officers could see that the children and Moore had been injured from the pipe.
Officer Victoria-Garcia stayed on the pipe to assist Moore while Officer Hayes grabbed the 11-year-old and put her on his back carrying her to the shore. Officer Hayes returned for the 9-year-old and carried her to safety.
Chief Steve Downey of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol, Lifeguard Brian Cain, and Firefighter BJ Hamilton of the Atlantic City Fire Department were off-duty doing maintenance work at a nearby Lifeguard stand when they responded to the beach. They, along with Officer Scott Crawford, assisted in rescuing the 8-year-old boy and Moore from the pipe.
The three children, three officers, and Moore were all transported to the Medical Center to be evaluated for cuts and bruises sustained from the waves crashing into them while on the pipe.
The Atlantic City Beach Patrol will begin patrolling beaches on Saturday, May 29 between the hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. As a reminder, if you cannot see the lifeguard, the lifeguard cannot see you.
The Atlantic City Police Department also wishes to remind all beachgoers that it is unsafe to swim when lifeguards from the Atlantic City Beach Patrol are not on duty. Dangerous rip currents can be powerful and can affect even the most experienced swimmer.
To watch the Tuesday rescues, click here.
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