{"id":423967,"date":"2026-10-10T04:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423967\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T04:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:40:10","slug":"martin-county-employee-rescues-girl-from-rip-current-at-stuart-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423967\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin County employee rescues girl from rip current at Stuart beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Martin County employee used her lifeguard skills and instincts to save a girl struggling in a rip current at Bob Graham Beach in Stuart.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791607210_862_author_avatar.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"John Perik\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>STUART, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">A Martin County employee is being praised for her quick actions after rescuing a girl from drowning at Bob Graham Beach in Stuart on Thursday afternoon.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">Amy Offenbach, who came to the beach to surf, said the day took an unexpected turn.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">&#8220;It was just by chance that we were here and thank God that we were at the right time,&#8221; Offenbach said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">Offenbach, who has years of lifeguard training, said her instincts kicked in when she saw three girls struggling in the water.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">&#8220;I took off my clothes, grabbed the board, and started paddling,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I immediately went into rescue mode.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">Authorities said one of the girls was choking on water, and the beach had no lifeguards on duty. Offenbach rushed in to help, using a surfboard to stabilize the girl.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&#8220;Once she was on the board, she was kind of limp. Her body wasn&#8217;t doing anything else,&#8221; Offenbach said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">Offenbach said the girl&#8217;s forehead felt cold, prompting her to rush the child to the nearest lifeguard stand down the road. The girl was then taken to the hospital with minor drowning injuries.   <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">&#8220;I&#8217;m just really thankful that her parents have their child,&#8221; Offenbach said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">Offenbach, a Martin County employee, said she doesn\u2019t feel the need for recognition.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"12\">While some are calling her a hero, Offenbach said she was simply acting on her instincts as a mother.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"13\">&#8220;I have a 14-year-old son myself, and I can&#8217;t imagine him not coming back from hanging out at the beach with his friends,&#8221; she said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"14\">The incident serves as a reminder to exercise caution at the beach, especially in areas without lifeguards.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"15\">Stay up to date: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"16\">Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/article\/get-wpbf-25-news-on-the-go\/999316\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"17\">Follow us on social: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpbf25news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPBF25News\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wpbf25news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WPBF\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@wpbf25news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TikTok<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Martin County employee used her lifeguard skills and instincts to save a girl struggling in a rip&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[513,161814,2805,1210,58914,1160,171,173,172,723,23879,26197,807,25445,8065,4103],"class_list":["post-423967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-beach","tag-bob-graham-beach","tag-drowning","tag-life","tag-lifeguard","tag-martin-county","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-rescue","tag-rip-current","tag-save","tag-south-florida","tag-struggle","tag-viral","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423967","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=423967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}