Posted on 01/14/2017 11:50:43 AM PST by nickcarraway
Jessica Berg almost didn’t work her Saturday night shift at the Crow’s Nest. Yet if the 28-year-old waitress and mother had not clocked in, two people might not be alive today.
At roughly 10 p.m., Berg was taking her dinner break at the popular Santa Cruz Harbor bar and restaurant. As she ate, she watched rain pound the Santa Cruz Harbor from a second floor kitchen window.
“It was stormy and dark out so I didn’t really notice the Mercedes until it was already rolling down the boat ramp and about to enter the water,” Berg said.
Squinting through the window, Berg tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
“Within seven to 10 seconds, this black Mercedes had slipped completely underwater and I realized no one had noticed,” Berg said.
No one, that is, except Berg — and she was certain two people were trapped underwater.
“I started yelling and a coworker, Brittany Herrera, ran to the bartender to call 911,” Berg said.
Berg sprinted downstairs, told her manager to call 911, then alerted the employees at the Crow’s Nest Beach Market, a retail business beside the boat ramp.
“By then, Adrian had already gotten to the water,” Berg said.
Adrian Alt, a Crow’s Nest waiter, was the first into the water, although he would quickly be joined by four other employees.
“One of them came out and asked for something to break the window, then dove back in,” Berg said.
Within minutes, Alt and the other employees had a man and woman out of the Mercedes and up the boat ramp.
“They were both in their 50s. The guy was bleeding badly from his head and seemed really dazed and out of it,” Berg said. “The woman was unconscious and foaming from her mouth.”
Berg, who knows CPR, was about to begin chest compressions when the woman began spitting up water and coughing. As the woman shakily recovered, Berg placed a sweater to ward off shock until paramedics could arrive.
“I reacted how I guess I would want someone else to react if I was trapped like that,” Berg said. “But Adrian is the total hero in my eyes. He was the one who dove in first.”
While the couple emerged from the incident relatively unscathed, the driver was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the California Highway Patrol.
That had to be some cold water up there.
I’ve been a customer of the place. But that was decades ago, when I was living in Santa Cruz.
I was thinking that too, Santa Cruz in January in the dark of night. This was a heroic rescue.
Hats off to all those heroes!
“I was thinking that too, Santa Cruz in January in the dark of night. This was a heroic rescue.”
Anyone who has dipped their toes in the Pacific ocean at this time of year knows that was a heroic rescue.
The only time I ever dipped my toes into the Pacific was in July. It was too cold for me then.
Wow! I spent lots of time at that joint back in the day. Wonder why they went down the ramp.
ping to samadams2000
I am starting to shiver just thinking about it.
It used to take my courage to go in Rio Del Mar in July.
“The only time I ever dipped my toes into the Pacific was in July. It was too cold for me then. “
—
I imagine that there are many warm parts,though,like Hawaii.
.
One day while having lunch across the harbor I saw a brand new King Cab roll back into the water, sink, destroyed, while the guys were taking out the beer cooler. He was so excited for his inaugural launch that he forgot the parking break.Happens quite a bit. I think the government needs to step in a demand that all boat launching pads should not be sloped. s/
Dang it! I wish they’d knock it off and let me loose faith in humanity.
I hate it when good and decent people drag me back into being hopeful.
Anyhoo, well done to the Crow’s Nest Crew.
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