Ocean City route 90 hero

OCEAN CITY, Md.– On Friday the public learned more about the Good Samaritan behind the life saving rescue that happened last Sunday in Ocean City.

Jonathan Bauer was the hero who jumped into the waters below the Route 90 bridge risking his life to save a 2 year old.

Bauer was involved in a multi-car accident that had happened on the bridge, but after checking if his daughter was okay he sprung into action.

“Then we heard yelling from up ahead and its were the truck was on the railing and I was looking at the under carriage of the truck and someone was trying to throw open the door to get out, Bauer said.”

But after he helped that person, that’s when the person pointed towards the water.

“I saw the car seat, some of other items and then about six feet away from the car seat was a little girl. She was on her back completely floating head completely out of the water arms moving legs kicking, Bauer said.”

Jonathan says he looked for boats and saw none, so he told his daughter Ava to grab the first first responder she saw but then things took a turn.

“By that time she had flipped over and her face was in the water, Bauer said.”

That’s when Bauer, who has no military or paramedic training became a hero.

He took off his shoes and jumped nearly 30 feet into 4 to 5 feet of water.

It’s a jump that could have killed him and that’s initially what his daughter Ava thought.

“I’ve seen people jump off of a bridge and they die. So that was probably the scariest moment of my life. Seeing my dad jump off the bridge, Ava said.”

But instead a miracle happened, Bauer was fine and soon on his way to the girl.

“Lifted her out of the water and looked at her, her eyes mouth was open , her eyes were semi open and then I put her against my shoulder very high and then aggresively patter her on the back and within seconds she spit up a lot of water and then started coughing and then took a deep breath, Bauer said.”

Eventually Bauer and the young girl would be picked up by a local family, the Oertels who were out on their pontoon boat.

They would help get the young girl to safety, and eventually into the hands of first responders.

The best part of this entire story is that the 2-year-old is back at home with her family.

She’s expected to make a full recovery and that’s largely in part thanks to the heroic actions of Jonathan Bauer.