Jonathan Wiese

Jonathan Wiese saved a man and two girls from drowning, San Diego, California, June 13, 2020. Before sunrise, a 47-year-old man, who had been the driver of a truck that left a road and entered the Pacific Ocean at the base of a cliff, held his 2-year-old twin daughters in the water beside the heavily damaged, overturned vehicle. One of the girls was motionless. Having responded to the scene while on duty, Wiese, 43, police officer, removed his uniform top, ballistic vest, and duty belt and wrapped one end of a 100-foot-long dog leash twice around his chest. Moving to a point on the cliff about 30 feet above the ocean, Wiese gave the other end of the leash to officers, who used it to lower Wiese to rocks that had collapsed from the cliff. Wiese removed the leash, entered the ocean, and swam to the man, who was much larger than him. Wiese then grasped the man, as he held the girls, and pushed them back to the rocks and pulled them out of the water. Wiese carried the unresponsive girl to the point where he descended the cliff and secured her to a backpack that officers lowered with the leash; officers hoisted her to safety. With help from a firefighter who had swum to the scene, officers similarly hoisted the second girl. A helicopter lifted the man to the top of the cliff. Both girls were hospitalized with serious injuries. The man was treated at a hospital then taken into police custody for charges related to the incident. Using a surfboard, Wiese paddled to a point where he could exit the ocean.