A fisherman who told authorities he wasn't a strong swimmer is being hailed as a hero after he rescued a teenage girl who was pulled out from the shore.
"I couldn't let her drown," the fisherman told authorities, who highlighted the rescue with a warning: Don't swim where there are no lifeguards.
The incident happened Friday morning at the southern tip of Island Beach State Park, according to officials in Seaside Heights, who wrote about the rescue on the borough's Facebook page.
The teen had gone into the ocean in an area of the park near the north side of Barnegat Inlet in an area that's popular with fishermen and soon found herself about 30 yards offshore and in distress, officials said. Surf conditions were rough at the time, officials said.
"While volunteer fire department ocean rescue teams were en route, a fisherman saw the teenager in distress," officials said. The fisherman grabbed his personal flotation device from his truck, put it on and went in the water.