the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ocean City NJ, on Saturday, June 26th, four troopers from the State Police Aviation Unit rescued a jet-skier who was stranded in a marsh in Ocean City, N.J.
At approximately 1:45 p.m., troopers from the Marine Services Bureau were contacted by the stranded jet-skier who advised he had been stuck in the mud for three hours. Understanding that high tide was several hours away, the troopers knew that a rescue by boat was not a viable option, so they requested assistance from the Aviation Unit.
A short time later, Sergeant First Class Michael Donnelly, Sergeant First Class Patrick Balunis, Staff Sergeant Joseph Vinci, and Trooper I William Carney, departed Ocean City Airport enroute to the victim.
While the pilots maintained a hover at approximately 100 feet, the troopers lowered a rescue basket to the jet-skier. Once in the basket, he was hoisted safely into the hovering helicopter and was transported to the airport where it was determined that he did not sustain any injuries.
