JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Kay Williams and his family were having an end of the school year siesta on Jax Beach when his oldest son heard a scream in the water.
“I turned and I heard this girl say, ‘Help him! Help him!’” said Brandon Williams, Kay’s oldest son.
Brandon tells Action News Jax he didn’t realize what she was talking about until a passing wave revealed the body of a man struggling to swim and breathing in water.
“He was calling for help, too, but he was, like, whispering it,” Brandon Williams said.
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When Brandon’s brother, Zayden, who was also in the water, heard what was going on, he went to get his dad for help.
“You’ve got to help this person, he was drowning and I didn’t want nobody to die,” said Zayden Williams.
Kay’s sons helped pull the man out of the water, and Kay says he helped bring him onto the sand.
“So I grabbed him, dragged him up, and then he just started throwing up all of this water onto the sand,” said Kay Williams.
The Williams family shared cell phone video with Action News Jax taken by Kay’s wife, showing Kay helping the man as he started to sit up. The video shows the man, later identified as Jeremiah, passing out not long before first responders arrived to take him to the hospital.
Kay tells Action News Jax he had never taken his family to the beach that day hoping to be a hero, a reason he is crediting his two sons with rescuing Jeremiah from the water.
“My boys are the real heroes,” said Kay Williams, “words can’t explain it, man. God was here. That’s the only thing that I can say. God was here and he worked through us, you know?”
The Williams family shared messages between Kay and Jeremiah’s mother after he had been taken to the hospital. The messages are from Jeremiah’s mother to the family, expressing her thanks and telling them they hope to meet after Jeremiah makes a full recovery.
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