Once a lifeguard, always a lifeguard.
An NYPD officer who used to work as a lifeguard saved a woman as she struggled in the waters off Rockaway Beach boardwalk in Queens Monday night — then directed a surfer to save a good Samaritan who got in trouble trying to rescue the woman.
The 25-year-old Staten Island woman was swimming about 50 feet from the shore by Beach 94th St., near Shore Front Parkway, at about 7:40 p.m., when she found herself in distress.
As her family members, including a young boy, watched in horror from the shore, NYPD Officer Anna Loboda called over her police radio, asking if anyone could swim out to help.
Enter Officer William Lauria, 23, of the 100th Precinct, who was assigned to beach detail.
Lauria, a cop since October 2015, used to work as a swimming pool lifeguard in Hempstead. He stripped to his department-issue shorts and jumped in the water.
“She was struggling. She wasn’t able to get herself back in. She had trouble swimming.”
And she wasn’t alone.
A man who jumped into the water to save the woman also wound up in distress, so he flagged down a nearby surfer to bring the man to safety. He refused further medical help.
The woman’s head stayed above the water, and Lauria guided her to shore.
Exhausted and overcome with emotion from the ordeal, the woman went to St. John’s Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.
Lauria checked up on her at the hospital, where she was surrounded by her family.
As for his lifeguard training, he said, “It just kind of kicks in, you know.”
