The White House will honor the California teenage lifeguard who saved a boy in a rescue that went viral this past weekend.
The rescue occurred during rough surf at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz over the weekend. Viral video showed the 16-year-old lifeguard holding onto a boy while keeping his head above water as wave after wave came crashing overhead. Take a look:
“We’re going to bring this heroic young man, and his family, into the White House with, perhaps, the boy he saved, to give him a High Civilian Honor,” Trump said in a post on social media. “Very brave, he deserves it!”
Eric Trump also said that the lifeguard will be presented with the “highest civilian honor.”
Witness Scott Vander Dussen told reporters that the waves were normal at first before the surf suddenly intensified.
“The waves, I wouldn’t say they were tranquil, but they were what you’d expect, a normal cadence and intensity,” Vander Dussen told KNTV-TV. “And then that just changed in a heartbeat. It caught a lot of people off guard. Unfortunately, this young man was overwhelmed and swept out in just a moment’s time. I’m glad it ended the way it did.”
According to ABC News, the “names and ages of the lifeguard and boy haven’t been released. California State Parks, which employs the lifeguards at that beach, didn’t immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking further information.”
