Last Updated on July 22, 2019 by Gardens Home Management Services
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. – A local family says this weekend could have been deadly after their small motorboat capsized on the Intracoastal near Phil Foster Park. Other boaters enjoying the sunshine Saturday suddenly jumped in to help.
“You always hear about it happening but you never expect to be the ones to be there”, said Jason Frein, 24, who helped rescue the Riviera Beach family.
Frein was on board a boat riding alongside Gloria Melendez and her family when the family’s smaller white motorboat capsized after being slammed by a large wave. “From when I saw the splash until when I realized what had happened, it was already flipped”, said Frein, He and his friends immediately jumped into the water and swam towards the struggling family, which included a four year old boy and a six month old boy.
Clinging to the upside-down boat, Frein stretched out his arms and was able to grab the infant and hand the baby off to a passing boater, which likely helping save the boy’s life. “You don’t really think about it at the time, everything is happening so fast, but I’m just glad at the end of the day that everybody’s ok”, said Frein.
Both of the boys are expected to make a full recovery even after being tossed into the water. Frein and his friends hope that if they ever find themselves in trouble, that someone would jump in to help them.