Eyewitness
My name is Jackson Sims-Myers and I’m sure that you have no idea who I am. That’s okay. I was deeply saddened to hear that Steve Ruppenthal had passed away on Friday, June 20th. I was also shocked when I read the Lumina News’ coverage of the events that took place the day he was pulled ashore. I am shocked because my account of the events that took place are very different than what has been reported in the Lumina News. I would like to share with you my account of what happened on the beach that day.
I was on vacation at Wrightsville beach with my family during the week of the 16th. On Thursday evening my parents and I decided to take a walk along the beach. We had walked left out of one of the beach entrances and continued under the pier. My mom noticed there was someone in the water further down the beach but at a distance it looked like a child was snorkeling in the waves. We continued to walk and then suddenly my mom stopped and pointed to something floating in the waves. The wave rolled in and it became very clear that it was an older man, not a child. Then another wave came along and we all knew something was wrong when his body was pushed by the water and his arms bobbed by his head. I had already begun moving towards the water to be able to see better when I knew something was wrong. I ran into the water, which was only about thigh deep, to try and pull the man ashore. There were two surf instructors maybe about five feet on either side of the man who had been in the water as my family and I were walking up the beach. Fortunately, when my family noticed, one of the instructors noticed the man and told his partner to go take a look. It took the surfers a few seconds to realize what was happening and as I ran into the water I shouted for one of them to help me.
Together, the surfer and I got the man onto the beach and out of the waves. My mom told me she had asked someone to call 911 and there were other people on their phones, too. Almost as soon as we set down the man, a stranger ran up to us and said he was an EMT and began to perform CPR on the man. The EMT told me that he didn’t need my help so I stepped back to give him room. Around this time the man’s family became aware and were all running down the beach towards us. There were kids with the family and my mom and I took the kids away and sat down with them away from the man. Eventually the police, an ocean rescue team, medical professionals, and other professionals were all working to save the man’s life. After around 30 minutes the man was lifted onto a stretcher and then driven away to the hospital. A couple police officers came over to me and took my name and my mom’s name and number since I am only 17. One of the officers on the scene told me that the man had a pulse when he left the beach. I was told on Monday, June 23 that he was alive when he reached the hospital and I saw the Lumina News article today-June 28 saying he passed away the day after the incident.
Jackson Sims-Myers
