A teen and her dad were about to take a selfie when a powerful riptide washed out to sea.
Erynn Johns and her father, Derrick, were goofing around in the ocean with a video camera on a selfie stick. Out of nowhere, a vicious riptide came in and had them fighting for their lives.
Through it all, she kept hold of her selfie stick.
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She told INSIDE EDITION’s Les Trent: “When I was being tossed around the waves I couldn't get my head above the water and I was really worried.”
Erynn and the rest of the family were vacationing in Nantucket. At first all is fine as 16-year-old Erynn waded into the water with her selfie stick in hand.
Then her dad, a former Marine, sensed danger. Suddenly things started to go wrong. The riptide sucked Erynn and her dad under. Dad yelled to Erynn to swim to shore.
He recounted the incident to INSIDE EDITION and said: “She's like, 'I can't,’ and right there, we knew we were in big trouble.”
The water-proof GoPro camera caught Erynn's struggle as she frantically thrashed around.
Trent asked: “You wouldn’t let go of that selfie stick would you?”
“Yeah, it was actually tied around my wrist,” she said.
Erynn's mom, Jennifer, tired to grab it and tried to pull her daughter to shallower water, and the teen finally made it to the beach with her selfie stick trailing behind her.
She turned around to see her exhausted father being hauled from the surf. Erynn's mother also had to be helped from the ocean by lifeguards. Dad collapsed on the sand and was lucky to be alive.
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Trent asked: "You are a former Marine, you have been in pretty heroing situations, how does this compare?"
He replied: "There is no comparison. I have had bullets flying several times and level of fear is nothing that I had ever experienced before."
None of the family will forget their brush with death and that life-saving selfie stick.
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