No criminal charges against teacher in drowning death

Following a criminal investigation into the drowning death of a 12-year-old girl in Long Beach during a school trip in June, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice recently announced that no charges would be filed against the teacher or chaperones who allowed students to enter the water.

The incident happened on June 22, when students from Harlem’s Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering came to the beach at Edwards Boulevard for a day that was meant to be both fun and educational. Three chaperones watched as many of the 24 students went into the water, even though lifeguards were not on duty. Sixth-grader Nicole Suriel got caught in a rip current, and drowned despite a massive search by rescuers.

Suriel’s death shocked Long Beach residents, local officials and the children’s parents, who criticized the chaperones for allowing students in the water despite posted signs indicating that lifeguards were not on duty. Rice launched an independent investigation of the incident.

In July, teacher Erin Bailey was fired and the school’s principal and assistant principal were disciplined after the New York City School District released a report that concluded that the tragedy was the result of poor planning and supervision.

In her report, released on Nov. 1, Rice concluded that while the decision to allow students to enter the water may not have been wise, there was no evidence of “intentional criminal conduct.”

“The questions presented by this inquiry are whether a responsible party was aware of the risks and consciously disregarded it or, in the alternative, the decision to allow the students to enter the water under the given circumstances constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would have observed in the situation,” Rice wrote in the report. “Based on the facts and law … the answer to this question must be no.”

Rice acknowledged that the ocean appeared to be calm and shallow that day, and that the rip currents that contributed to the tragedy “were not obvious to those unfamiliar with Long Beach.”

She also said that many other people were in the water on that sunny day, including a group of 51 students from P.S. 3 in New York City. The report determined that instructions were given to the Columbia school students to refrain from wading beyond a reasonable depth and to stay away from the jetties, and that adults were present and attempted to supervise the children while they were in the water.

“While the ultimate collective failure to prevent Nicole Suriel’s death is particularly tragic,” Rice wrote, “the evidence does not support a finding of criminality on the part of any of those involved.”

Despite the findings, Suriel’s family is moving forward with a lawsuit against New York City. Suriel’s death, along with that of 19-year-old Emanuel Tiburcio in May and numerous preseason rescues when lifeguards were off duty, sparked a debate about whether to open beaches earlier in the season and ways in which the City of Long Beach could create more awareness of their dangers when they are closed.

“We have to be ready to either have lifeguards working earlier in the season or have more enforcement to keep people out of the water — and that’s a dialogue that needs to come up at the council,” City Councilman Len Torres said. “We don’t want more people to drown.”

For his part, City Manager Charles Theofan said that the beaches would open a week earlier next spring: Lifeguards will be on duty full-time beginning June 18, a decision that was made in the hope of preventing another tragedy, he said.

“It was a decision that was made with our chief of lifeguards, who informed me that we could adequately staff [the beaches],” Theofan said. “With schools ending earlier and earlier, he determined that we would have enough staff.” Theofan explained that 50 lifeguard stations are manned by 130 lifeguards.

Long Beach has taken other steps to address the dangers of swimming in the offseason, Theofan said. In September, for instance, the city produced a $10,000, 10-minute public service announcement aimed at creating awareness among New York City and Long Island students of the dangers of swimming when lifeguards are not on duty.

The film portrays students visiting the beach who realize that a friend is missing in the water and may have drowned. It features a dramatization of a drowning and a rescue attempt that includes actors and actual lifeguards, as well as a visual illustration of rip currents, with lifeguards’ instructions on how to calmly and safely swim out of them.

“Our hope is that with the PSA being circulated in the schools, young people will be informed about the serious dangers of going into the ocean when lifeguards are off-duty,” Theofan said.

He added that he expects the film to be released in the coming months, and that it will be shown at schools throughout New York City and on Long Island.

“When the media asked me what we could do differently, the truth is, on an operational level, on our beach, we are doing everything right,” Theofan said. “But I’ve always said we could do a better job of trying to get the word out and inform the public.”