{"id":339035,"date":"2026-07-13T23:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339035\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T23:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:09:26","slug":"jacksonville-man-said-he-tried-to-save-missing-swimmer-at-huguenot-beach-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339035\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville man said he tried to save missing swimmer at Huguenot Beach Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax has learned the U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing swimmer at Huguenot Beach Park. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said on Saturday, three adults were swimming in the ocean when they began struggling against the undertow. Bystanders were able to rescue two of the adults; however, one adult male went under and did not resurface. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;&gt;&gt; STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE &lt;&lt;&lt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Witnesses in the area credit a Jacksonville man for trying to rescue that swimmer and others. James Mack tells Action News Jax he tried to save four people that day with only one unsuccessful attempt. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Around 4 p.m. Saturday, Mack\u2019s fishing day at the riverside area of Huguenot Beach Park turned anything but routine. He said the strong undertow overtook a woman and her son who had swam out too far, and no lifeguards were around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cShe was completely unconscious, not breathing, no pulse. When the boat waved over, they call for anybody who knew CPR and CPR certified. And I\u2019m CPR certified. I immediately went into the water,\u201d Mack said. \u201cOnce we got her on land, I started doing compressions and mouth-to-mouth and got her breathing again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jso-coast-guard-search-man-who-disappeared-while-swimming-huguenot-park\/LVSAZ4Z3TNB7BDVX3V6P5RMJYA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jso-coast-guard-search-man-who-disappeared-while-swimming-huguenot-park\/LVSAZ4Z3TNB7BDVX3V6P5RMJYA\/\">JSO, Coast Guard search for man who disappeared while swimming at Huguenot Park<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Mack said the woman\u2019s son assisted him. He said the woman\u2019s husband who spoke no English, came thereafter, misunderstood the situation, and got into a confrontation with law enforcement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m a wrestler in jujutsu so I had to submit him so he didn\u2019t go to jail,\u201d Mack said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Then Mack said he spotted a man and woman drowning and signaled boats to rescue them both. Mack said he then spotted their brother, a 29-year-old named Donte laying face down in the water floating. JSO confirmed that its marine units are still searching for 29-year-old Donte Wanton. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[DOWNLOAD: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cI got within 20 yards of him before he went down. And I was for over a minute, trying to find him in that rip current seeing if he would float into me. I just stayed underwater and I couldn\u2019t find him. And I started choking on water myself so I had to go back to shore,\u201d Mack said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Mack said he had to spend the night in the hospital because of all the water he ingested. He even allowed the brother and girlfriend of the victim to stay at his house overnight as their as they lost their car keys. Mack has a warning for anyone in the river area of Huguenot. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cThey should just have a no swimming sign on the Riverside,\u201d Mack said. \u201cIt\u2019s made for fishing. The Riverside is for fishing. If you want to swim, go to the oceanside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[SIGN UP: <a href=\"https:\/\/membercenter.actionnewsjax.com\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Here\u2019s what Mack advises if you should get caught in a rip current:<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cTake a big deep breath before you go down, hold your breath and just float, don\u2019t fight, don\u2019t swim against it, you\u2019re gonna burn your energy just float. You will come up out of the water. Sit on your back and float\u201d Mack said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cI am so sorry for the person that couldn\u2019t be saved,\u201d Mack said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/video\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n<p>Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax has learned the U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[139346,139342,139347,139345,139341,116,118,117,139343,139344,1872,634,54979,59170,115,139348],"class_list":["post-339035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-dante","tag-dante_walton","tag-huguenot","tag-huguenot_beach_park","tag-huguenot_park","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacques_zion_decoto","tag-james_mack","tag-jso","tag-local","tag-mac","tag-max","tag-news","tag-z_zion_dekoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339035","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=339035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}