DeSoto County deputy sheriff dies saving son in rip current

A DeSoto County deputy sheriff died after saving his ten-year-old son from a rip current off a beach in Florida.

William K. Nichols was director of the search and rescue unit for the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department in northern Mississippi.

His family was vacationing in Fort Walton Beach when his son was caught in the dangerous current.

Nichols swam out and saved his son in distress, but then was pulled into the current, according to the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department in a Facebook post.

A local rescue crew from Walton County, Florida pulled Nichols to shore and began CPR. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The sheriff’s department writes Nichols had been the search and rescue unit director for the past seven years. He was just 33-years-old.