OCEAN CITY— The swimmer an off duty Philadelphia police officer rescued on Aug 25 has died, according to police. Manuel Velazquez was transported to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point by the Ocean City Fire Department and Medic 8 after he was pulled from the 9th Street beach unresponsive. He died 24 hours later, police said.
Paul Haye, an off duty Philadelphia police officer who is also a former Wildwood Crest life guard was sitting on the beach reading a newspaper when someone got his attention. “They just came up to me and said there is a guy out there screaming for help.—When I saw him it just looked like he was struggling to get in, at one point he crossed the rocks when I saw him he was face down and didn’t look like he was moving any more. I swam out and pulled him in, by the time I got him into shore the rescue personnel were here”. Haye said.
When police arrived, officers, Matt Schaffer and Bob Reichanek, entered the water to assist with the rescue efforts. Upon arrival of the officers, the victim was unresponsive. The Officers and Haye were able to get the victim onto a nearby jetty. The officers then started CPR on the victim until the Fire/Rescue units arrived to take over life support operations.
The 9th St. beach had been closed at 5pm by the Lifeguards prior to ending their tour of duty for the day. All swimmers were called in at that time and advised not to go back in the water, according to police.
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