A 22-year-old beach shuttle driver tore off his cap and shirt, dove into a Gulf rip current and dragged three drowning strangers back to shore one at a time – carrying the last woman out over his shoulder.
Jordan Matthew drove the free shuttle at Elmer’s Island Refuge near Grand Isle, Louisiana, ferrying beachgoers from the parking lot to the sand for Reliant Shuttle LLC.
But on this run he had just dropped off a group of visitors from Oklahoma and was heading back when people started frantically waving him down.
It turned out a a young boy had gotten caught in a strong current near Caminada Pass, and a woman believed to be a relative, went in after him but was also dragged under.
A second woman swimming nearby was then pulled into the same water. None of the three could swim.
“They were bobbing under, the waves were crashing over their heads,” Matthew said. “It was a rough sight.”
He didn’t wait and instead shed his cap, sunglasses and shirt and went in, reaching the boy first and bringing him to safer water. Then he turned back for the first woman and guided her toward the shallows.
The second woman had drifted farther out, exhausted and, according to WWL-TV, tangled in fishing line. Though he had no formal training, Matthew knew enough to swim parallel to the shore to stay out of the current’s grip.
He talked her through it as he swam. “I didn’t want them to run out of energy, so I was like, ‘stay calm,'” he said.
When he reached her, he grabbed hold and hauled her in, carrying her over his shoulder for part of the way. All three were back on the sand before emergency responders arrived. Everyone survived.
Matthew describes the thing that took over as “absolute focus.”
“I activated that in my mind, just locked in, and went one by one and went get them,” he said. “I didn’t really have too many thoughts going.”
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries thanked him publicly, crediting his quick decision with saving three lives. Matthew, of Mandeville, has played down the hero label.
The families he pulled from the Gulf had a simpler thank-you in mind. That evening, they invited him to dinner.
