A group of people told the man not to jump because it was low tide, she said.

Aubrey Stowers, a 20-year-old visiting from South Carolina, said she was on the phone when she noticed a man preparing to jump off the end of a nearby fishing pier. It was about 6 p.m., and she was standing in the “Mother’s Rest” rotunda on Carson Beach.

An 18-year-old man ignored the warnings of bystanders Sunday and jumped from a South Boston pier, receiving a bloody head wound in the shallow waters below, witnesses and emergency crews said.

“But [the man’s] friend told them, ‘he does this all the time. He knows what he’s doing. Don’t tell him what to do,’ ” Stowers said.


A minute later, the man swung his legs over the railing and dove into the water. The group that warned him quickly realized that the man was floundering, alerted his oblivious friend, and called 911, Stowers said. Then they ran down a rocky slope, pulled him out of the water, and administered CPR, witnesses said.

“I could see him moving, but he said he couldn’t feel his legs,” Stowers said.

Jessika Bechtel, 30, of Dorchester, said she saw bystanders crowding around trying to help the man, one wrapping a T-shirt around a large gash on the back of his head.

“They were all around him, trying to touch his feet, asking him to move his toes, which he did,” Bechtel said. “It was tough to watch.”

State Police spokeswoman Nicole Morrell said the victim was 18 but declined to identify him further. She said he was taken to a local hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.

Globe correspondents Nicholas Jacques and Melissa Hanson contributed to this report. Dan Adams can be reached at dadams@globe.com.