A good boogie man — cop rescues struggling teen at remote beach

A police officer completed a daring rescue after ditching his vest and uniform, borrowing a boogie board, and swimming to a teen struggling 50m offshore.

The teenager had been enjoying a mid-afternoon at Pourerere Beach on Tuesday when she found herself in a perilous situation in choppy water.

The beach, an hour from Hastings, was deserted apart from the boogie boarder’s cousin, who noticed her struggling and called police.

She told them her relative appeared to be stuck in a rip about 50m out.

Within a minute of the call at 2.04pm, officers were on their way.

The Police Emergency Communications Centre also contacted fishing crews, Surf Lifesaving NZ and the Coastguard.

The boogie boarder was getting pulled further out to sea.

Constables Nyge Walker and Joel Stevenson were first on the scene at 2.17pm, and were waved down by the cousin, who pointed out where she was in the water.

Walker assessed the situation, ditched his vest and uniform, borrowed a boogie board, and swam out to her.

“There was a highly distinctive rip running about 70-degree angle from the shore. It was highlighted with sand that it was taking.

“When I got to her, she wasn’t in a state to paddle, so I towed her to shore until she could touch the bottom and safely walk out of the water,” he says.

Rescue services were then stood down.

The officers took her to a medical centre to be assessed, then got her home safely.

Walker said he was pleased to help.

“Once I saw her, I knew we had to act quickly before matters got worse.”

Police would like to thank the commercial fishing boat that headed to the beach just in case.