OFF-DUTY STATE CORRECTIONAL POLICE OFFICER RESCUES MAN CAST TO SEA AFTER BOAT SINKS OFF JERSEY SHORE TRENTON (6/22/21)— An 82-year-old man was left floating alone in open water after his boat sank off the Jersey Shore Monday evening. Far away with the tide, the man floated for a total of three hours before his cries were heard by a resident fishing along the coast. The resident searched for help before alerting off-duty Correctional Police Officer Chad Ammerman who immediately called 911 to report the emergency. Emergency personnel had been searching the waters where the boat sank, but the man adrift was too far from the wreckage to be spotted. Officer Ammerman could see time was running out. Quickly searching for the nearest flotation device, the off-duty officer emptied a heavy cooler onto the beach and swam out into the water. He dragged the cooler over 300 yards through the bay towards the man, constantly looking back towards the shore for hand signals from on-lookers as the waves cut his vision and sense of direction. When he finally reached the victim, the man had only enough strength left to hang onto the cooler. Officer Ammerman dragged both him and the cooler all but 40 yards back to the coast before a boat finally came along to help. “We should all be incredibly proud of Correctional Police Officer Chad Ammerman today,” said William Sullivan, President of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 105. “He risked his own life to save another’s, he is the true definition of a hero.”