LONG BEACH, N.Y. -- Rock star Joan Jett said Monday she dived into the surf off Long Island to save the life of a drowning 3-year-old boy whose mother was screaming for help.
'It happened so quickly I didn't even think about it,' Jett said of Sunday's rescue, in a telephone interview from her manager's home in Rockville Centre.
Jett, 24, said she was walking along the beach, where a birthday party was being held for her 6-year-old niece, about 5 p.m. when she heard a woman screaming.
'She said, 'My kid is drowning! I can't find my kid!,'' Jett said. 'I looked around and I saw where he was. So I ran in the water with my clothes on -- you don't think about that kind of stuff -- and got him from about a half foot under water.'
She said the boy, identified as Jeb Bellsy, had been floating face down with his arms spread out when she picked him up and carried him to the sand.
Jett began pumping his chest to clear any water from his lungs. 'Then some other people who knew more what they were doing came and checked to make sure he was all right,' she said.
'He got up and he didn't want to in the water with anybody but me,' said Jett, whose hits include 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' and a remake of the '60s classic 'Crimson and Clover.'
He is 'a really cute kid' with brown hair and 'a freckled face,' she said. The boy's relieved mother thanked her for rescuing her son.
The Philadelphia-born rock star said she was still reeling from the excitement of having saved the boy's life.
'I guess it hasn't hit me yet,' Jett said. 'The fact that you're talking to me must mean it's a big deal. To me, it was just trying to help somebody. I didn't even think about it. I just did it.'
Jett, who has homes in Long Island and New York City, is working on songs for her next album before returning to the road to finish her American tour. She begins a tour of Japan in July and then heads for concert dates in Scandinavia.
