{"id":190351,"date":"2026-03-13T16:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/190351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:26:09","slug":"wheelchair-bound-man-rescued-after-dock-ramp-collapses-at-mariner-cay-marina-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/190351\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheelchair-bound man rescued after dock ramp collapses at Mariner Cay marina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>STUART, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What began as a day on the water at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinercay.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Mariner Cay<\/a> turned into a dramatic rescue after a man in an electric wheelchair fell off a dock and into the water Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies said the incident happened just after 10 a.m. as a father was loading his wheelchair-bound son onto a boat when a passing vessel created a wake, rocking the boat and causing the ramp to collapse.<\/p>\n<p>The man in the wheelchair fell into the water.<\/p>\n<p>Bystanders jumped in to help, tying ropes around the wheelchair to keep the man\u2019s head above water as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsofl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office Marine Unit deputies<\/a> and fire rescue crews responded.<\/p>\n<p>Body camera footage captured the tense moments.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Mark Appler arrived in about 90 seconds after receiving the call for help.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies and fire rescue initially tried lifting the man out of the water with his wheelchair, but that proved to be too heavy. The chair alone weighs 230 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Rescuers also realized the man\u2019s harness was creating another danger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe started realizing that the top harness that he had was still holding him in and started to choke him a little bit,\u201d Appler said.<\/p>\n<p>With time critical, Patrol Deputy Sam Oliver jumped into the water.<\/p>\n<p>In body camera footage, someone can be heard directing, \u201cSam &#8212; jump on their boat, jump, jump off the other side, and come around the back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith him not being able to speak to use to articulate how he was feeling \u2013 we knew urgency was the best route there,&#8221; Deputy Oliver explained.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies unstrapped the man, put him in a life vest, and secured him to a backboard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd [we] realized our best option was &#8212; due to the height of the dock &#8212; was going to be to swim him to the shore,\u201d said Deputy Oliver.<\/p>\n<p>The man was then hoisted out of the water.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the chaos, deputies said the man remained in good spirits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe son kinda smiled, and the father said, &#8216; What are you smiling for?'&#8221; laughed Deputy Appler. &#8220;It lightened the situation and made everybody relax and more calm because we knew our jobs and what we had to do,&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Deputies said this rescue was a first for the marine unit and one they will learn from.<\/p>\n<p>The man in the wheelchair had minor cuts and bruises and is expected to be okay.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Appler secured a rope to hold it in place while additional deputies responded, per MCSO.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/miami-traffic-stop-ends-with-trooper-stabbed-woman-shot-child-in-dhs-custody\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida traffic stop ends with trooper stabbed, woman shot, child in DHS custody<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wheelchair-bound man rescued after dock ramp collapses at Mariner Cay marina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STUART, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What began as a day on the water at Mariner Cay turned into a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-190351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}