Brandon Township has a hero in North Carolina.
Jeff Harvey, a 1981 graduate of Brandon High School, is a police officer for the Atlantic Beach Police Department. He was recently awarded the North Carolina Governor’s Medal for Valor for saving a boy’s life. Jeff is the son of Bob and Ruth Harvey, formerly of Ortonville.
Aug. 10, 2003, the end of the tourist season on Atlantic Beach, N.C., a storm was brewing and the waves were high.
Patsy Johnson, a North Carolina native, and her family were riding the waves in waist deep water when an unexpected riptide formed near shore. Suddenly the mother and her three grandchildren were struggling in the current to reach shore amidst a backlash of flowing water.
‘We got a call that several people were stuck in the ocean,? Harvey said.
‘When we arrived Johnson’s son was in the water helping the family but he got caught up in the riptide too. To be honest we really didn’t think’we just got there, took off our gun belts and went into the water.?
Traditionally in a water rescue one man enters the water while another remains on shore to render assistance. However, after Harvey watched his partner, Franklin Rice, dive into the water and not surface for nearly 20 yards, he followed.
As Rice assisted Johnson, her son, and two of her grandchildren to shore, Harvey watched the 12-year- old being carried out to sea on a boogie board.
Caught in a violent rip current Harvey could see the young boy was heading out toward a 150-foot pier, and realized he had to act fast.
Without hesitation Harvey grabbed a boogie board from an onlooker and headed toward the pier.
‘I basically stole a boogie board from a kid onshore and headed out to the boy.?
Once he reached the boy, they both were caught in the violent tide, so Harvey secured the youth to his belt with the Velcro from his gun holster.
With victim in tow, Harvey attempted to swim side-ways within the tide to maneuver out of the current. Both were repeatedly swept off their boards, said Harvey.
‘The whole time we were out there the boy kept saying ‘Sir, am I going to die??? Harvey continued.
‘I kept telling him no, but I was beginning to wonder. And we were so close to shore,? he recalled.
Eventually, Harvey managed to charge through the riptide to the pier where fellow officers helped them to safety.
No stranger to the fury of ocean currents, Harvey was a corpsman in the U.S. Navy for more than 21 years before he retired and became an Atlantic Beach police officer. However, he says the tide that held him and the12-year-old boy in its grasp was the worst he’s ever seen.
‘I’ve jumped out of helicopters into the middle of the ocean and never got caught up in a riptide like that one,? Harvey said.
Shortly after the rescue Patsy Johnson wrote a letter of appreciation to Harvey’s commander, who passed it on to North Carolina Governor Michael F. Easley.
On Aug. 10, 2003 Harvey received the police department’s third highest honor from the State of North Carolina. The award is the ‘Medal for Valor? which is bestowed upon officers for acts of outstanding personal bravery intelligently performed in the line of duty at the risk of personal hazard to life under circumstances evidencing a disregard of personal consequences.
‘He’s my hero and I want to hand him the award,? said Johnson to Gov. Easley.
Harvey humbly says it’s all in the line of duty.
‘What we did that day was nothing more than any other cop or lifeguard would do,? said Harvey.