As a young kid, Jonathan Searle appeared alongside his real-life brother in Steven Spielberg’s horror classic Jaws, credited as “Boy Swimmer with Cardboard Fin.” All these decades later, in a wild twist of fate that even Hollywood’s top screenwriters couldn’t script, the now 56-year-old Jonathan Searle has just been appointed Police Chief of Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the actual island where Spielberg filmed Jaws back in the 1970s!

Jonathan Searle was voted in as Police Chief of Oak Bluffs just last week, The Vineyard Gazette reports, almost 50 years after a young Searle played a prankster in Spielberg’s Jaws.

“I’m clearly elated and I’m humbled and honored to have been offered the position,” Searle told the Gazette. “It’s something I’ve been working toward my whole career.”

The website provides some background on Searle’s history in law enforcement in the area, “An Island native, Mr. Searle has served in the Edgartown department since 1986, rising through the ranks. His community work is wide-ranging and includes serving as town meeting constable for many years. More recently he helped lead an initiative called Project Outreach, teaming up police officers with recovery coaches to help get Islanders struggling with addiction into treatment programs. He is also the son of a police chief; his father George Searle served as chief in Edgartown from 1981-1995, and had been in the department since 1966.”

Jonathan Searle appeared in Jaws alongside brother Steven Searle, seen below.

Jonathan Searle, who as a child appeared in the film “Jaws,” has been selected as the next police chief of Oaks Bluff on Martha’s Vineyard, where the film was shot. https://t.co/Odko7wQPIV

— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2022

Jonathan Searle (left) in ‘Jaws’