The 16-year-old California lifeguard who saved a young boy from drowning Saturday at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz released a statement Wednesday, saying, “I love what I do.”
“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to return the child to his family safely,” Ryder Williams said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “This is my job and I love what I do. I’m thankful to my fellow lifeguards who perform rescues just like this every day.”
Williams, who had just started the job that summer, says he was at “the waterline 15 yards downcoast of Tower 2 making a safety contact,” when he saw the young child “about 20 yards up from the tower lose his footing in ankle deep water.” Williams says he radioed the incident, and “threw my radio and sunglasses at the base of my tower as I ran toward the kid.”
“We’re going to bring this heroic young man, and his family, into the White House with, perhaps, the boy he saved, to give him a High Civilian Honor. Very brave, he deserves it!” – President Donald J. Trump
pic.twitter.com/5IoSQPd93Q
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 28, 2026
A viral video of the rescue, recorded by local photographer Scott Vander Dussen, showed Williams holding onto the boy as he fought against the large waves during a dangerous rip tide. The rescue drew praise from local bystanders, who recalled the rescue being “intense,” as well as President Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump, who called Williams “heroic.”
Trump announced Tuesday that he plans to invite Williams and his family to the White House to give him a “High Civilian Honor.”
TRUMP TO AWARD TOP CIVILIAN HONOR TO TEENAGE LIFEGUARD WHO SAVED CHILD
California State Parks lifeguards said they rescued 34 people in Santa Cruz County since the weekend began.
“All California State Park lifeguard towers were staffed, there were 6 units on, a two-person rescue water craft team, three permanent lifeguard units, and a lifeguard supervisor working in Pajaro Coast,” California State Parks told FOX 2 KTVU.