Mississippi teen saved by off-duty Coast Guardsman who had just said ‘I do’

An off-duty Coast Guard member‘s wedding day turned into a rescue mission after he saved a teen from the water.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Zac Edwards was posing for photos with his new wife Cindy on Thursday in Orange Beach, Alabama, when a woman cried for help.

“A lady had come up to us and said that guy is out there struggling. He can’t get back, he’s having a hard time,” Cindy told WALA-TV.

“I wasn’t going to let him drown,” Edwards said.

Edwards raced to the water and approached the man with a flotation device.

“He kept saying, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,’” he said. “My goal was to keep his head out of the water.”

Edwards pulled the man, identified as 18-year-old Jamel Robinson of Mississippi by the Daily Mail, toward the shore until he was unable to proceed due to the current. Then a lifeguard arrived to assist Edwards.

“I didn’t really take in the gravity of the situation until I laid down that night,” he told Good Morning America. “Afterwards my hands were shaking but the adrenaline was just pumping.”

Cindy Edwards said she got a package deal.

“Hero and hubby in the same day,” she said.

The Edwards say they spoke to the family of the young man from Mississippi. He’s doing fine, a little sore but back to work, they said.

This story was originally published August 8, 2018 at 1:38 PM.