12 O'Clock High Ocean Drive Newport - Liz Renshaw

A first person account of the death at 12 O’Clock High

Christian Winthrop·August 12, 2020

(This comes to us from a first hand witness to the death of Joshua Jones at 12 O’Clock High on Monday, August 10th. The witness agreed to share their experience in exchange for anonymity)

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I just wanted to share what I experienced on Monday, August 10th at 12 O’Clock High on Newport’s ocean Drive. A 25 year old man named Josh jumped off of a cliff on Ocean Drive after his friends had done so.

After reading the various articles with misinformation, I felt that the true story was not being told and I believe that his family and those involved deserve to know the truth.

I heard from a person on the beach that someone was drowning. Two of my friends jumped in after him and I swam to the scene from about 100 yards away. We pulled him to a shallower rock with help from his friend and another, who I believe to be his brother, and each took position to lift him to a higher rock where the water was not crashing. He was speaking to us at this point and saying that he could not breathe. He was shaken up but responsive.

At this point it had been about 10 minutes and this is when the first paramedic arrived. We stepped back and he sat next to Josh and was speaking to him. A couple minutes later Josh began to foam at the mouth. We were telling the paramedic to put him on his side but he just pointed at the cliff and told us to get off the rock. We backed away and he had one of Josh’s friends begin chest compressions. At this point another paramedic was there and a third was bringing down the emergency kit.

I was now watching down from the cliff. They attach the AED (automated external defibrillator) about 10 minutes later, and it took a total of about 35 minutes to get him off of the cliff.

The various articles state that there was nobody else in the water. This is not true as there were at least seven that I can recall. It states that the fire department swimmers pulled him out of the water. It was in fact common bystanders who removed him from the water.

I was never once asked to talk to anybody about what I saw.

Thank you for reading!