Life imitates art: ‘Jaws’ extra named police chief where movie was partially filmed
JEREMY DRIESEN/VINEYARD GAZETTE VIA AP
Edgartown Police Sgt. Jonathan Searle delivers a message about the Good Samaritan Law during the filming of a public service announcement in March 2021, in Edgartown, Mass., on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Searle, who as a child had a brief but key role in “Jaws” has been named police chief on the Massachusetts island on which the 1975 movie was partially filmed. Searle was offered the job of police chief in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard in May 2022.
OAK BLUFFS, Mass. >> A man who as a child had a brief but key role in “Jaws” has been named police chief on the Massachusetts island on which the 1975 movie was partially filmed.
Jonathan Searle was offered the job of police chief in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard last week.
“I’m clearly elated and I’m humbled and honored to have been offered the position,” Searle, currently a sergeant with Edgartown police, told the Vineyard Gazette, which first reported the appointment.
The movie centers on the efforts of a police chief in a fictional resort town trying to rid the local waters of a killer shark. Scenes were filmed in various locations on Martha’s Vineyard.
In the movie, Searle played one of two boys who send beachgoers into a panic by swimming around with a fake shark’s fin.
Searle, whose father was police chief in Edgartown, takes over in Oak Bluffs next month.
