Boy drowns in Reynolds Channel

The boy, Leo Vann, recently graduated from eighth grade at Long Beach Middle School. When police were notified that he was missing in the water, not far from the Long Beach Recreation Center, it touched off a frantic search by authorities.
Vann dived into the water to cool off after skateboarding in the nearby skate park, but could not stay afloat and drowned, officials said. He was the first swimming fatality in Long Beach this year.
Long Beach police officer Joseph Anderson was on patrol at the skate park at about 1:30 p.m. when he was flagged down by three teens, who told him “that their friend had gone into the water at National Boulevard and the bayfront, and had not surfaced,” according to Lt. Bruce Meyer, a police department spokesman.
Anderson sent an emergency notification to all area water rescue personnel, and enlisted the help of a personal watercraft operator to search the area, officials said. Minutes later, a police department Marine Patrol vessel — launched just weeks ago — and a fire department water rescue unit joined the search. The Nassau County Marine Patrol, Freeport and Island Park water rescue and dive teams and the Town of Hempstead Bay Constable also took part.
Vann was found by a member of the Freeport water rescue and dive unit at 2:09 p.m., police said, adding that he was given CPR and then taken to Long Beach Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m. Meyer said the teenager was recovered in water that was 16 to 18 feet deep. “It appears to be an accidental drowning,” he said.
“They acted appropriately,” Meyer said of the Marine Patrol. “He was already under, and there was nothing that we could do.”
An investigation by the police department’s Detective Division is continuing, and Meyer said the police are discussing whether the department should create a dive team in light of the drowning. “The only thing that could have changed the outcome is if we had a dive team in the boat, and even that may not have made a difference because he was in so deep,” Meyer said. “... We don’t have the capacity to dive into water that is 18 feet deep.”
The area where Vann jumped into the water is clearly marked with “No Swimming” signs, officials said.
Hundreds of people attended Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, and some demanded answers to questions about security at the bayfront park. Lakesha Thomas, Vann’s mother, was among the boy’s relatives and friends who asked the council why the city doesn’t have the proper dive equipment and capabilities that might have saved the boy, why it took a diver from Freeport to pull him from the water, and why there wasn’t — and isn’t — better security at the park
“You, as well as I, know that this community is surrounded by water,” Thomas told the council, at times pounding the podium and yelling. “You were reckless … Why did it take my son’s friend to jump in the water after him? … I cannot understand it.”
Council President Thomas Sofield Jr. said that the city could not comment on the incident until the police investigation is completed. “We are proceeding in an orderly fashion,” Sofield told the crowd. “What we’re attempting to do is to first gain the answers to the questions to figure out what specifically happened, and then we can figure out how best to move forward to ensure that this does not happen again.”
Community advocate James Hodge called on the council to appoint a commission to review and investigate the city’s emergency procedures. “There should be a trained diver in every department, maybe during all shifts,” said Hodge, who wore a T-shirt imprinted with Leo’s image and the dates of his birth and death. “It might have not appeared to be a necessity, but obviously it is now.”
Hodge, who is also the LBPD’s animal warden, was at the scene when the fire, police and other departments attempted to save the teen. “They tried to do all they could with what they have,” Hodge said. “But we should have our own when it comes to water equipment.”
City Manager Charles Theofan, who was on the scene alongside Hodge, assured Vann’s family and the crowd that the rescuers did everything they could to save him. “They spared nothing,” Theofan said, adding that security will be stepped up at the park.
The boy’s father, Leo Vann Sr., told the council that he had planned to have his son visit him in Georgia this summer, and noted that he had graduated from middle school just a week before he drowned. “He died on 6-27-08, and my birthday was on 6-26-08,” Vann said, eliciting a collective gasp from the crowd.
The boy’s friends set up a makeshift memorial at the Recreation Center, which houses the Teen Center, where Vann spent a great deal of time. John Anfossi, a supervisor at the Teen Center, said the community showed a “tremendous outpouring of support,” with many gathering in the skateboard park to console one another and remember Vann, who they said touched many lives. Anfossi said the Teen Center was opened a half-hour after the incident so Vann’s friends could take advantage of grief counseling services. About 200 youngsters crowded into the center to try to come to terms with the tragedy, he said.
Anfossi remembered Vann as a “fantastic boy. He was well-behaved and well-mannered and happy-go-lucky,” he said, adding that Vann had “friends across the board, regardless of ethnic group or culture.”
Ray Adams, the coach of the middle school football team on which Vann played last fall, said that when students and staff learned about the tragedy, everyone who knew him was saddened. “It was unbelievably sad,” said Adams, who also teaches social studies teacher at the middle school. “Everyone’s heart dropped. It’s just so sad for his family and everyone.”
Adams described Vann as a great kid who was very friendly, always had a smile on his face and had “a ton” of friends. “Everybody loved that kid,” he said. “He was big into skateboarding, and spent a lot of time at the skateboard park with his friends.”
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