Police Officer Dies In Surf Rescue
OCEAN SHORES, Grays Harbor County - Rough waters swamped two rescue vessels coming to the aid of a surfer, killing an Ocean Shores police officer yesterday.
Four officers from the police Surf Rescue Team - two on a personal watercraft and two on a motorized raft - were coming to the aid of a 26-year-old surfer in distress at about 4:30 p.m. when both vessels overturned in the surf and strong riptides. Coast Guard crews picked up the surfer and the four original rescuers.
One of the latter, Lt. James Davis, died at a local hospital. Davis, 41, was a 10-year veteran of the Ocean Shores Police Department and the first to die in the line of duty in the department's 28-year history.