By Jeff Lipton
The body was discovered by a boater, about a mile southeast of Debbs Inlet, also known as East Rockaway Inlet, at 8:45 a.m. on Aug. 18.
Marine 4 of the Nassau County Police Marine and Aviation Bureau responded to the call and, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, were able to locate the body and transport it to the Atlantic Beach Rescue Station, authorities said. Police Officers Michael Protich and Daniel Danzi of Marine 4 fished the body out of the water, they added.
The victim found on Sunday was described only as a black male and the body was taken to the morgue at Nassau County University Medical Center in East Meadow, where officials hoped to positively identify the victim.
A boater discovered it floating about a mile off shore, said Det. James Knoblach of the Fourth Squad, which is investigating. We are attempting to identify him at this point. We don't know anything else about him right now.
We hope to have all the answers in the next few days, Knoblach added.
Coast Guard officials said they are investigating whether the victim is Harold Dickerson of St. Albans, Queens, who drowned while he was swimming at Rockaway Inlet off Beach 19th Street, just after lifeguards went off duty at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10. Dickerson, a 69-year-old teacher's aide, was apparently swept away by currents after swimming in dangerous and deceptive riptides. He was pulled in by the surf as he saved his son-in-law from the powerful riptides, officials said.
The body did have on shorts which was consistent with a report of the [drowned] person we had in the water, said Lt. Junior Grade Marc Sennick, assistant operations officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Group Moriches. I'm not a coroner, but to me it appears the body had been in the water for some time. it didn't just go in that morning.
The person who made the discovery, whose name was not released, was operating a pleasure craft at the time, Sennick said.
Everyone assumes it was the man missing from Rockaway Beach last week because he was the only person we know missing at this time, said Officer Alan Bekker of the Marine and Aviation Bureau. But a lot of times when you assume, you are wrong.
The discovery was somewhat shocking for Atlantic Beach officials who added they cannot avoid having bodies wash up near shore from time to time. Given the current, it can happen at any time, said Stephen Mahler, Village of Atlantic Beach mayor. It happens from time to time and it's something that you can't avoid. It's shocking when a body washes up in your community. What else could you say?
Village Clerk Emily Siniscalchi said she saw a police boat and a coast guard boat racing to the scene over the weekend but did not know until later what had happened.
Last summer, two girls who were swept underwater by a strong current while swimming in treacherous waters in Rockaway Beach were found dead in the waters near Atlantic Beach days later.
The two girls who drowned after drifting away from Far Rockaway Beach on July 23 were identified as sisters Jubeda Ahmed, 16, and Shahzeda Ahmed, 12. They were pulled out into the water by a fierce current at Beach 19th Street in Far Rockaway at 9:20 a.m. Their cousin, Rahela Begum, 13, was pulled from the water by a rescuer and was pronounced dead a short time later at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, South Shore, in Far Rockaway.
The girls, all from Paterson, N.J., were spending the summer with an uncle from Elmont, who took eight children to the beach for a day of swimming and fishing. As he unloaded his fishing gear, the three girls were frolicking in the water at Beach 19th Street when the current pulled them out farther into the water. They cried for help and a police officer managed to reach Rahela. But the two other girls were beyond reach.
