By Chris Munzing
In the last few years, a number of near-drownings have occurred after lifeguards have left the beach. In response, a handful of lifeguards will remain on the beaches until 8 p.m. to respond to any calls for assistance from the Long Beach Police Department.
John Skudin, the city's chief of lifeguards, said his staff will not be patrolling during these additional hours, and will not officially be on duty. "We're only going to be there as backup," he said. "If the police receive a 911 call about an emergency on the beach or in the water, they'll call us, and we will respond instead of them."
Skudin said that the handful of lifeguards at Beach Patrol headquarters after hours would not be paid overtime, but rather would start their shifts two hours later than normal.
City Council President Jim Hennessy said that a handful of lifeguards were at headquarters when the call came in Friday afternoon, but didn't respond immediately because it was radioed in as a few cuts and bruises, not a possible drowning.
Yuhang was swimming with a group of 14 friends when rough seas pushed them into a jetty at Long Beach Boulevard, according to police Lt. Bruce Meyer. The others all managed to make it back to shore, though battered and bruised. After they flagged down a Long Beach police officer patrolling the beach, however, they realized that Yuhang had not made it back in, and a rescue operation involving units from local fire departments, police, lifeguards and dive teams began. Yuhang's body was located approximately 45 minutes later, and transported to Long Beach Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The drowning occurred just one day before lifeguards began manning the beach daily. From Memorial Day through the end of the school year, lifeguards are at the beach only on weekends. They are now on the beach full time through Labor Day.
"Everyone takes a risk when you swim without lifeguards," said a city spokesperson. "The ocean is a fun place, but it's also a dangerous place."
The city does not expect the drowning to affect the number of people coming to the beach this summer. "Unfortunately, drownings happen everywhere," the spokesperson said.
While City Manager Charles Theofan said that he did not anticipate any changes in policy, Hennessy said that the city administration was currently discussing whether changes might be necessary. He said that the city did not need to hire more lifeguards, but might explore lengthening the hours the beach park is open, going to a seven-day-a-week schedule in June and extending the beach season into the fall, when the ocean is particularly dangerous because of hurricanes.
"The goal is to make the beach as safe as we can," Hennessy said. "And we need to look at ways to do that."
While stretching the season into the fall could create staffing problems, since many lifeguards are college students and teachers, Hennessy said the city would find a way if such a decision were made. "If Jones Beach can do it and the Town of Hempstead can do it, we can figure out a way to do it," he said.
But lifeguards can't be on duty around the clock, and short of closing the beach at night, the city's choices are limited. "It happens time and time again, and it's frustrating," said an emergency official who was involved in the Yuhang rescue attempt but declined to be identified. "Here I am, working on this 15-year-old kid, and after the call I'm saying to myself, This was senseless, this was a waste," he said.
"If you swim where there are lifeguards on duty, the odds of something happening are slim to none."
After-hours drownings are not new to Long Beach. In August 2000, Maurice Grey, 16, of the Bronx drowned when he, his younger brother Larse, 14, and their friend Andre Richmond, 12, of Lindenhurst, were pulled about 75 yards out from shore by a rip current. The boys entered the water at about 7 p.m., an hour after the beach park had closed. Though quick thinking by rescuers led to the rescue of Larse Grey and Richmond, Maurice Grey's body was located half an hour later by three off-duty lifeguards who were unable to revive him. Grey was later pronounced dead at LBMC.
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