(WSB-TV) – A Marietta police officer just happened to be in exactly the right place at the right time on a recent trip to Florida — and it likely saved a Georgia couple’s lives.
Officer Matt Salyers told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen that he was on his last day vacation at Destin with his family over Memorial Day weekend. He was on a jet ski when he saw a couple struggling in the water about a mile from the shore near an abandoned watercraft.
“As I turned around, all I see is just the jet ski floating,” Salyers said. “I’m like, ‘Wait. There’s people who were just on that jet ski.'”
Salyers raced to the rescue with the help of other members of his family, and they pulled Regina Beard and Darren Howard out of the water.
“He was screaming, like in a panic,” Salyers said. “He said his girlfriend couldn’t swim. ‘She can’t swim! Help me get her out!'”
Salyers said on his return trip to the dock, he learned the couple is from Gwinnett County.
This week, the couple reunited with Salyers at the Marietta Police Department to thank him for his heroic actions.
