Evanston police early this morning rescued two swimmers in distress off Lee Street beach.
Police say officers arriving at the beach just before midnight heard two people in the water screaming for help near the breakwater.
Although they initially couldn’t see the victims, the officers, carrying rescue disks, entered the water to look for them.
The officers said that about 50 yards off shore, they found a male swimmer being battered against the metal breakwater by large waves.
They managed to pass one of the rescue disks to him and pulled him to shore.
Meanwhile additional officers had arrived on the scene and were able to locate the second victim, a woman, about 100 yards off shore, who was having trouble staying afloat. Using another rescue disk, they managed to pull her back to shore.
The swimmers, identified as Jeffrey Greenberg of West Dundee and Heather Sue Muffett of Hammond, Ind., were given first aid treatment by Evanston paramedics. They were charged with city ordinance violations for swimming on a closed beach.
Police identified the officers involved in the rescue as Mikhail Geyer, Jeffrey Faison, Matthew George and Enjoli Daley. Officer Geyer was treated and released at a local hospital after swallowing a large amount of water during the rescue effort.