Man's body recovered fom water off Perth Amboy
Seems like every few days now someone is drowning. RIP, thoughts and prayers to his family.
Man's body recovered from water off Perth Amboy
by Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger Wednesday July 30, 2008, 8:16 PM
Perth Amboy Waterfront
The body of an 18-year-old Perth Amboy man who authorities said went swimming in an unauthorized area was recovered this evening in waters off Sadowski Parkway.
The man was identified as Jose Aparicio, who had gone wading into the water this afternoon and apparently plunged off a steep shelf at the end of a jetty, police said.
Perth Amboy police and firefighters brought the man's body ashore at 6:40 p.m. after it was recovered by New York City police divers as dozens of onlookers lined the shore where the search was conducted. A New York City police helicopter hovered overhead.
"It's a tragedy," said Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz, who had come to the scene not far from City Hall.
The area at the foot of State Street has a beach and wooden piers used for fishing, but police said swimming is prohibited there. It's near where the Raritan Bay, the Arthur Kill and the Raritan River meet.
The man had come to beach area with friends this afternoon, but he was the only one to enter the water, police said.
One of the friends called police at 5:10 p.m. and said the victim could no longer be seen.
A nonswimmer, Aparicio waded to the end of the jetty and then fell into deeper water, said police Lt. Ramon McKeon.
"He's a nonswimmer. He panicked and got caught in the mud," McKeon said, adding the body was recovered about 20 feet from where Aparicio entered the water.
He was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, but efforts to revive him failed.
"They worked on him, but were unable to bring him back," McKeon said.
