Off-duty Massachusetts police officer saves man’s life while on vacation in Florida

An off-duty Massachusetts police officer is being credited with possibly saving a man’s life while vacationing recently.

According to police, last week, Barnstable Sgt. Christopher Ross was on vacation with his family in Florida at a portion of Cocoa Beach that did not have any active lifeguards at the time. He was walking the beach looking for seashells with his two youngest children when he heard a man yelling for help approximately 20 feet off the shore. The man was stuck in the rip current and close to drowning. Ross asked his wife to grab their kid’s swim floaties and then quickly strapped them around his waist. Without hesitation, Ross swam out to the man that was drowning and was able to pull the man to safety and bring him back to the shore.

Photo of incident courtesy of Barnstable Police

Brevard County Sherriff’s officers were the first to join on scene and helped to get the man further up on to the beach.

The man was transported to the hospital, and he was expected to be okay. The victim’s wife and two children were at the beach looking on as this act of heroism was happening.