Brooklyn Man Dies After Being Pulled From Surf At Rogers Beach On Saturday

A 23-year-old Brooklyn man—a healthy young father, and a strong swimmer, according to a family member—died after suffering some sort of medical event in the surf off Rogers Beach in Westhampton Beach on Saturday afternoon.Jordan Boris, who was at the beach with his parents, who are regular summer visitors to Westhampton, was swimming 20 to 25 yards from shore at around 1:40 p.m. when witnesses said he appeared to be struggling; some witnesses speculated that he might have been caught in a rip current, and some said he appeared to have a seizure.Four lifeguards equipped with ropes and flotation devices were able to reach Mr. Boris and pull him from the ocean. After checking his vitals, they began performing CPR, according to Thomas Abbatiello, the head lifeguard at Rogers Beach, who assisted with the rescue.After recognizing that Mr. Boris was suffering some sort of cardiac distress, lifeguards called for an automated external defibrillator, or AED, from the beach manager, Shaun Johnson. The device, which is stored at the beach pavilion, is designed to automatically deliver a shock when a patient is suffering certain types of cardiac events, such as arrhythmia, but not to deliver a shock in instances where it would not be beneficial. When used on Mr. Boris, the device did not deliver a shock, according to both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Abbatiello.Westhampton Beach Village Police officers arrived several minutes later and took over CPR from the lifeguards. Officers then affixed their own AED to Mr. Boris, but it also did not deliver a shock, according to Mr. Johnson.Several witnesses said a crew with the Westhampton War Memorial Ambulance arrived between 20 and 30 minutes after Mr. Boris was pulled from the water, with some questioning the reason for the delayed response.Albert Tudisco, the chief of the ambulance company, could not be immediately reached this week, and Westhampton Beach Village Police Chief Trevor Gonce said the emergency call was not handled by the village dispatcher and, therefore, he could not provide response times.It appears that the call was automatically forwarded to Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services in Yaphank; a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the response times of paramedics was filed with the office on Wednesday, but official response times were not immediately available.Village Police stated that Mr. Boris, who was at the beach with his parents, Roberta and Harris Boris of Roslyn, had gone into cardiac arrest, though it remains unclear if that occurred before or after he was pulled from the ocean.Mr. Boris was transported by the Westhampton War Memorial Ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.Lisa Boris, Mr. Boris’s sister, said Monday that her parents, who have a weekend house in Westhampton, watched the entire situation unfold before their eyes. “It’s so hard to think about,” she said. “I don’t know how my parents are going to get through it.”Debra Treto of Center Moriches, who grew up in Westhampton Beach, said she and her family watched as the lifeguards pulled Mr. Boris from the water and began performing CPR. They also noticed his parents nearby.“I felt so bad. I could tell it was the mom and dad there watching their son pass away,” she said.Ms. Boris, who lives in Great Neck, said her brother had not been diagnosed with any preexisting cardiac issues. She also described him as a strong swimmer, noting that he had been a rescue diver for several years. He worked for his father at Regal Cleaning, a post-construction cleaning company based in Port Washington.His sister also said Mr. Boris leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter, Faith Boris. His daughter was not at Rogers Beach on Saturday, she said.The ocean was particularly rough on Saturday, with strong rip currents being reported across the South Shore, and 4-foot swells spotted in Westhampton Beach, according to Mr. Abbatiello. In fact, about an hour later, in Hampton Bays, a beachgoer rescued a woman who had been pulled out by a rip current near the Shinnecock Inlet.At Rogers Beach on Saturday, red flags marking the lifeguard-protected zone had white ropes tied to them, signaling to swimmers that the water was rough. There were also signs on both the deck and walkway leading to the beach warning swimmers to be aware of dangerous rip currents.Due to these conditions, Mr. Abbatiello said he stationed two lifeguards at each flag on both ends of the swim zone to make sure swimmers stayed within the boundaries. One of the lifeguards spotted Mr. Boris and blew a whistle after recognizing that he had strayed too far from shore, though he was still within the protected area, according to Mr. Abbatiello.Mr. Boris then began swimming toward the shore but almost immediately began to look like he was in distress, and the lifeguards went in to pull him out.“I thought our lifeguards and staff did an excellent job handling the situation,” Mr. Abbatiello said.“The lifeguards did a good job,” Ms. Treto agreed. “They did everything right.”Alison Cohen of Staten Island, a registered respiratory therapist employed with the Staten Island University Hospital, said she witnessed the ordeal and was part of the ongoing CPR rotation prior to officers arriving. She noted that two physicians who happened to be on the beach also volunteered their help.“Everyone did the best they could do, given the resources they had,” said Ms. Cohen, who also wrote a letter to the editor published in this week’s edition of The Press criticizing the lack of emergency equipment that was available to lifeguards.