Body of Missing Smithtown Dad Recovered

Posted by James Brierton on Aug 12, 2011 | (File Photo/US Coast Guard)


Kings Park, NY (SmithtownRadio.com) – The body of a missing Smithtown dad who went missing after his kayak flipped near the Nissequogue River has been recovered.
Patrick Luca, 41, and his 5-year-old son launched an inflatable kayak at the boat ramp at the end of Old Dock Road in Kings Park by the Nissequogue River at approximately 1:30 p.m. Friday
At 2:45 p.m., the 5-year-old boy was spotted floating in Smithtown Bay by a passing boat north of the mouth of the river. He was uninjured and lifted out of the water.
Luca’s body was spotted by a recreation boater Saturday around 11:30 a.m. near Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park, about a mile from where the kayak had been discovered the day earlier in Smithtown Bay.
The United States Coast Guard, along with Suffolk police, NYPD, and the Smithtown constable, worked through the night to search for Luca, who is an NYPD officer.
The Good Samaritans who discovered the boy floating Friday made an emergency radio transmission after finding the child. The broadcast was heard at the Coast Guard station in Connecticut, which immediately dispatched a rescue boat from Eaton’s Neck and a helicopter from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The boy was reunited with his mother onshore shortly after the ordeal Friday. Mother and son were taken back to their Smithtown residence.
“Thankfully the boy was wearing his lifejacket and a Good Samaritan was in the area to recover him,” said John Olsen, the United States Coast Guard Long Island Sound Sector command duty officer on watch during the incident. “Our responders are working hard to find this boy’s father.”
Divers and other personnel from area fire departments assisted in the search Friday afternoon.
The Smithtown Bay is a body of water between the Long Island Sound and the Nissequogue River.

The waterway has been reopened to boat traffic. It had been closed for a period of time while divers searched the waters.























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Tags: Breaking, Breaking News, Kings Park, Kings Park Fire Department, Nissequogue Fire Department, Nissequogue river, Smithtown, Smithtown Fire Department, Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department Aviation Unit, Suffolk County Police Department Marine Unit, U.S. Coast Guard