By PETE WALTON and JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
Officials at the shore caution bathers never to underestimate the ocean following the rescue of four from the water in Asbury Park Sun., Aug. 14 and the apparent drowning of a man off Bradley Beach over the weekend.
Bradley Beach Chief of Police Leonard Guida reminds those who want to swim at the borough’s beaches to respect the power of the ocean at all times.
“It comes down to common sense,” Guida said. “Even if it appears calm, you always have to respect it. If you look at it that way, you never go wrong.”
The chief urged parents and grandparents to teach these principles to their children and grandchildren.
“Looks can be deceiving,” he said.
On Mon., Aug. 15 , the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it had suspended its search for 31-year-old Julio Pierre of Newark, who was last seen in the water off Brinley Avenue Saturday evening.
Pierre, a recent immigrant from Haiti, came to Bradley Beach with friends to escape the heat, Guida said over the weekend.
The Coast Guard searched for Pierre overnight and all day Sunday. Members of the State Police, Bradley Beach police, the Belmar Water Rescue Team, Asbury Park Fire and Rescue, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department and the Area Network of Shore Water Emergency Responders (ANSWER) joined volunteers and lifeguards from Bradley Beach and Avon-by-the-Sea in the search for Pierre.
“Our hearts go out to the friends, families and loved ones who are impacted by this tragic event” said Coast Guard Capt. Scott Anderson in a statement. “Coast Guard crews and our partner agencies worked together to search for this individual and it’s never an easy decision to stop searching.”
Four people were rescued from the Asbury Park beach Sunday night after a man went into the water after hours and became distressed.
Three people on the beach, two men and a woman, attempted to rescue Eddie Sabio of Matawan, but they also became distressed and needed to be rescued.
Fire Official Garrett Giberson said a call came in to the fire department at 7:41 p.m. and fire fighters were dispatched to the scene and saw the four people in the water at the Fifth Avenue beach.
Firefighter Brian Condon entered the water with a surf rescue board and Firefighter Michael Disbrow swam into the water.
Sabio was pulled from the water north of Convention Hall where the current had taken him. He refused medical help at the scene.
Giberson said there were no injuries and by 7:56 p.m. all swimmers were rescued.
Giberson said people should not take it upon themselves to try and rescue distressed swimmers.
“It just makes it worse, we have more people to rescue,” he said.
He also said the beaches were closed and unguarded at the time of the incident.
