The heroic efforts of a Brick Township Police Officer saved the life of a woman struggling to stay afloat in the Metedeconk River.

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It was overcast Saturday and as day was turning into night, the clouds became darker and rain started to fall.

When rain is coming, the seas/water gets rough.

Brick Police said that around 4:30 pm on Saturday, October 9, a 69-year old woman went to check on the lines of her boat which was tied to the dock as stormy weather approached.

As she was tending to her boat, she lost her footing and fell into the Metedeconk River and then as she tried to swim along the dock's pilings in an effort to make it back to shore, the current and temperature of the water brought on fatigue and she was unable to save herself so she called for help.

Police said her neighbor, Gene Serpentelli, heard her calls for help, went outside and shouted back "Where are you?" and so he and someone else from his house, Natia Chachava, began looking for the woman.

A short search later, led to them finding her in the water near the dock.

She told Chachava there was a life jacket in the boat next to her and once it exchanged hands, the woman in distress held onto one of the straps while Serpentelli called police.

Brick Police Officer Ray LaPoint arrived at 5:00 pm and the woman in the water told him she was "becoming weak and losing her grip."

Without a seconds pause, Officer LaPoint went down to a beam under the dock, grabbed onto the woman and was then able to pull her out of the water and onto the dock.

Brick Police EMT's then responded and tended to the woman to assess for injury and hypothermia.

Police said that she was safe and refused any further medical care.

"The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, stated how grateful and impressed she was with how quickly the police responded, and how Officer LaPoint was able to pull her out of the water," Chief James Riccio said in a statement.

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