{"id":414423,"date":"2026-07-27T22:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414423\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T22:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:15:12","slug":"heroic-santa-cruz-lifeguard-rescues-10-year-old-boy-from-violent-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414423\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroic Santa Cruz lifeguard rescues 10-year-old boy from violent waves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Video shows the heart-stopping moment a little boy was nearly killed by <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/19\/us-news\/mom-and-child-in-serious-condition-after-sneaker-wave-dragged-them-out-to-sea-in-latest-beachside-horror\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">monster waves<\/a> in a California <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/17\/us-news\/two-california-women-swept-away-by-waves-in-santa-cruz-county-honored-in-tributes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beach town<\/a> over the weekend. <\/p>\n<p>The terrifying drama unfolded Saturday at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz when <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/21\/us-news\/terrifying-video-captures-moment-california-woman-is-sucked-into-the-ocean-by-sneaker-wave-in-pacifica\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">killer waves<\/a> sucked a young swimmer into massive surf. <\/p>\n<p>Harrowing footage shows the lifeguard struggling against massive waves. Instagram\/@Santacruznow<\/p>\n<p>Scott Vander Dussen, who captured <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/santacruznow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the dramatic video<\/a>, told NBC that boy, about 10 years old, was swept out to sea as wave after wave detonated onto his body. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt caught a lot of people off-guard,\u201d said Vander Dussen. \u201cUnfortunately, this young man was overwhelmed and swept out in just a moment\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As bystanders watched in terror, a 16-year-old lifeguard dove into the water and fought the powerful waves to reach the child and bring him back to shore.<\/p>\n<p>Waves continued to bash the lifeguard and the child. Instagram\/@Santacruznow<\/p>\n<p>Other beachgoers and a second lifeguard rushed to the rescue, helping carry the boy back to safety. <\/p>\n<p>Eric Trump reposted the video of the lifeguard with praise. \u201cGive this 16-year-old lifeguard the highest civilian honor. This is truly the best of America! Well done!,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses stepped in to help the lifeguard bring the boy in. Instagram\/@Santacruznow<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, the young child was brought to shore. Instagram\/@Santacruznow<\/p>\n<p>The boy was evaluated by paramedics and reunited with family, according <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/santa-cruz-lifeguard-rescue-seabright-beach\/4119430\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to NBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Cruz lifeguards are highly trained and must complete at least 56 hours of lifeguard instruction, 24 hours of medical certification training and more than 80 hours of marine safety lifeguard training.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia&#8217;s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Treacherous waves are expected to continue in the area through Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m glad it ended the way it did,\u201d Vander Dussen said. \u201cI\u2019m certain if the lifeguards weren\u2019t there, he wouldn\u2019t have gone home that night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Video shows the heart-stopping moment a little boy was nearly killed by monster waves in a California beach&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1785,7,9,8,34552,21661,4182,21659,4130,933,3586],"class_list":["post-414423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-beaches","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-drownings","tag-lifeguards","tag-metro","tag-ocean","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-swimming","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}