Surfer injured by undertow, pulled to safety by Jetty East guest (PHOTOS)

Destin Fire Control responded to a call from Jetty East Condominiums around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday after a young male that had been surfing suffered a knee injury while attempting to climb out of the water.

Bill Wills, a retired journalist from Illinois, was reading a book nearby when he heard the victim struggling.

“I heard him yell, ‘help me, help me’, and he was holding his knee,” Wills said.

As red flags flew over the beach, Wills entered the water and pulled the victim out, noticing that it appeared that the victim’s left kneecap may have been dislocated. It appeared twisted into an unnatural position.

The victim also got the attention of other guests staying at Jetty East when he began yelling in pain.

Steve Detar of Traverse City, Mich., said that they heard the victim screaming from their fourth floor balcony and went running for the stairs to help out.

“He said he was done surfing and he was just trying to get out of the water,” Detar said. “The undertow took his knee out.”

The dangerous undertow is all too familiar to Destinites who remember the day that seven lives were claimed by the surf. June 8, 2003 became known as Black Sunday along southern Walton and Okaloosa Counties. Each victim was from a different state, and only one was local.

The victim at Jetty East was hoisted to safety over the railing by rescue personnel and put into an ambulance.

“It (the undertow) could have taken him right out to sea,” Detar said. “That’s the risk you take when you surf by yourself.”