NORTH WILDWOOD – The family of a man who drowned after being swept out to sea from a North Wildwood beach filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court July 24, according to Philly.com.
The family alleges that negligence caused George Bradley Smith’s death two years ago.
The lawsuit names North Wildwood, Cape May County, and the state of New Jersey as defendants.
The lawsuit, which claims the unprotected beach had a well-known “steep and unobservable drop-off at the area of the accident,” asks the court to order the immediate closing of the beach and seeks unspecified damages. The family claims that Smith’s drowning could’ve been prevented if the town had posted adequate warning signs and prohibited access to the beach.
Smith, 54, of Horsham, was walking along the shoreline near 2nd Street and Ocean Avenue with his daughter, and two others in ankle-deep water near Hereford Inlet in North Wildwood around 5:30 p.m. July 27, 2012. The beach was not monitored by lifeguards.
As they walked, the sand gave way beneath them. Smith’s friend, Scott Sunderland, who was also with his daughter, was able to swim to shore, with his daughter on his back. Smith and his daughter had been swept out into the inlet by the current. A boy on a jet ski was able to rescue Smith’s daughter, but Smith disappeared beneath the surface as his daughter was being returned to shore. His body was found three days later.
Sunderland told Philly.com that there were ‘no swimming’ signs posted.
“We weren’t,” Sunderland told Philly.com. “We were just walking.”
The Smith family’s attorney, Paul D’Amato of Egg Harbor told Philly.com that the unprotected inlet beach long had a reputation for being dangerous and that seven people had drowned there over a nine year period.
In a statement to Philly.com, North Wildwood Mayor Patrick T. Rosenello said he could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.
“The City of North Wildwood takes its beach protection responsibilities quite seriously,” Rosenello told Philly.com. “In fact, there has never been a drowning incident at a protected beach in the City of North Wildwood in its 100+ years of existence.”
“We don’t want this to happen to another family,” Smith’s wife told Philly.com. “And we wish that someone that knew of this dangerous area would have done what was right so that we would have never lost Brad in the first place.”
North Wildwood – See, I never needed to learn Spanish other than "Hasta la vista". President Trump intends to keep his campaign promise to begin deporting at least 15 million people who have been poisoning…
