Out-of-control lifeguard boat nearly takes lives of two local teens
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

UNFAMILIAR SCENE-Baywatch Malibu, a rescue vessel used by Los Angeles County lifeguards, hits the skids on Zuma Beach in front of a bewildered lifeguard two weeks ago. The boat, which nearly collided with two local Simi beachgoers, washed up onto the shore after being swept along by strong waves.

Gasping for a breath of air, 17year-old Steven Benavente cleared the saltwater from his eyes and frantically looked in all directions.

His younger brother, Jacob, 15, and longtime family friend Kenny Ayala, 24, who a minute before had been at his side in the waters off Zuma Beach, were nowhere in sight.

Moments earlier, Steven had dived deep below the surface of the rough water to avoid the Malibu Baywatch, a 35-foot ship used by Los Angeles County lifeguards to aid in the rescue of drowning beachgoers. The ship, which over the years has been responsible for savings thousand of lives, on this day, July 15, actually threatened them.

"I tried to stay down as long as I could because I didn't know how long it was going to stay above. I eventually ran out of air and came back up," said Steven, a senior at Santa Susana High School. "I couldn't see my brother or Kenny anywhere. I thought it hit them."

SURVIVORS-Brothers Jacob, left, and Steven Benavente of Simi Valley were rescued by Los Angeles County lifeguards and luckily stayed under water long enough to miss being run over by a lifeguard boat that was used during the rescue. They are holding the remains of a boogie board that was chewed up by the boat's propellers.

And it might have, if not for the actions of two unnamed Zuma Beach lifeguards, one of whom forced Steven under the water just before the out-of-control boat made contact.

Fortunately, everyone in the water that Saturday emerged unscathed. Kenny and Jacob had been pulled to safety onshore, and Steven, with the help of the same lifeguard who saved his friend, would soon follow.

"I wouldn't be here right now if that lifeguard wasn't there," said Jacob, a sophomore at SSHS. "We've been to the beach a lot of times and we've never had anything like this happen."

Rescue gone wrong

Steven and Jacob were spending a day at the beach with 10 members of their extended family when they ventured too far offshore and got caught in a dangerous rip current.

According to their father, Al, who was present, two lifeguards from the beach-based tower responded to the boys' situation and appeared to have things under control.

As the lifeguards were using flotation devices to bring the three ashore, Al Benavente said, Malibu Baywatch and its crew appeared on the scene.

"Everything was fine until the boat showed up. When (the boat's skipper) went toward the group of people, it looked as if he was coming in too fast and lost control of the boat," Benavente said. "He went right over the heads of my boys and at least five other people."

Jacob said he still vividly remembers turning around in the water to see the large vessel coming right for him.

"I took a half a breath and the lifeguard pushed me under. He pushed me all the way down to the bottom of the beach. I could feel the sand and I sort of blacked out," Jacob said. "When I came back to, I could see the two lifeguards helping my brother and my friend to shore."

Steven, who was attempting to escape the riptide on his own, had more time to react.

"I heard one lifeguard yell, and then I noticed the boat coming really fast, so I just turned back around and tried to swim in," he said. "Then (the boat) came in re

ally close and I saw a wave come up from behind it-I thought it was going to tip right over on top of us. As soon as I knew it was going to hit us, I just started swimming toward the bottom."

But the large boat and its whirring propeller passed right over their heads and continued heading toward the beach, where it came ashore. Kenny said later he actually felt the bottom of the boat go over his arms before diving down far enough to avoid the propeller, which shredded a boogie board just above his head.

Onshore, the Benavente family panicked, unsure of just what they and hundreds of other visitors on the packed beach had just witnessed.

"What angered me the most was that whoever was driving the boat was still trying to maneuver the boat once he went over them,"

Benavente said. "I yelled at them and told them to turn off the boat and stop the propeller because no one knew where the kids were at."

The senior Benavente, who said he'd like to meet and thank the two lifeguards who saved his sons' lives, said he doesn't want to see anyone get in trouble-he just wants an explanation.

"I'm just trying to get the story and record straight," he said. "Someone violated some type of procedure and almost killed seven people, and I want to know why it happened."

According to Capt. Scott Davey with the Los Angeles County lifeguards, what happened that day at Zuma Beach was not only extremely unusual, but possibly a first-time occurrence.

"I don't know if the Baywatch Malibu has ever been on the beach, and it's been operating since the '50s," Davey said.

Davey said the county is taking the incident "very seriously," adding that there is an ongoing investigation into exactly what went wrong. No official statement has been released.

"It was absolutely a dangerous situation and we're looking into why it happened," Davey said.

Baywatch Malibu, from which the famous TV show lifted its name, is one of nine Baywatch rescue boats used by the world's largest lifeguard service to patrol 72 miles of California coast out to Catalina Island. Each boat is equipped to fight fires, rescue watercraft and provide medical care.

According to Davey, on a busy day at Zuma it's not unusual for the Baywatch crew to pull 15 swimmers from the water. Last year, he said, the nine boats rescued a total of 10,000 people from Los Angeles County waters.

"The boat's function is to assist the beach lifeguards and make sure nobody drowns," Davey said. "Especially on busy days at Zuma Beach, when we can have five, 10, 15 people caught in a rip current, it's difficult for one or two lifeguards to rescue all those people."

Davey said the boat generally stays 75 to 100 feet offshore and is operated only by highly trained crewmembers.

"Every one of our operators has a U.S. Coast Guard license and hundreds of hours of working on the boat. We don't just stick anybody out there to just go help out," said Davey, who's been a lifeguard for 35 years.

Benavente said he did receive a call from the Zuma Beach lifeguard station apologizing for the incident.

"We're just happy no one got hurt," said the boys' dad, a longtime Simi Valley resident. "We just want kids to know this story so if they're in the water and they see a boat coming at them, they know what to do, and that's swim towards the bottom and stay under as long as you can."