What to Know
- A Pennsylvania father died while trying to save his 11-year-old son from drowning in the ocean off the beach in Atlantic City.
- Police said the father and son were swimming before lifeguards were on duty Monday morning.
- The boy managed to make it to the shoreline and survived.
Loved ones are mourning a father who died while trying to save his son from drowning in the ocean during dangerous rip currents off the beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Atlantic City police, firefighters, beach patrol and EMS responded to the beach near the Ocean Casino Resort at New Jersey Avenue Monday around 9:30 a.m. for a report of a child drowning and his father entering the water to save him. As the first responders arrived, they spotted the 11-year-old boy who was able to make it to the shoreline.
Jim Glorioso Jr., a former police officer from Amsterdam, New York, then spotted the boy’s father struggling in the ocean. Glorioso grabbed a boogie board and entered the water.
"I gave him CPR as best as I could but the problem is that far out with the waves and the boogie board and the water motion, it was really tough," Glorioso said.
Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Steve Downey and firefighters also went into the water and helped pull Glorioso and the father to the shore. The firefighters then performed CPR on the father who was unresponsive.
The victim was transported to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. The man’s son was also taken there for treatment and was later released.
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Police have not released the victim's identity but said he and his family are from Reading, Pennsylvania.
“It’s very, very upsetting,” Olga Shur, a witness, told NBC10. “Very. And they had a lot of small kids. It was like five small kids with this family.”
The incident occurred before lifeguards were on duty for the day.
“Please just follow the signs,” Chief Downey said. “Read the signs and make sure there are lifeguards in the stands before you let you or your children go in the water.”
Lifeguards along the Jersey Shore were already on alert Monday for a moderate risk of dangerous rip currents.
“You can feel it pulling you out,” Jimmy Reardon of Franklin Township, New Jersey, said. “It’s kind of hard to swim back in if you get too far out.”
The tragedy occurred after the busiest weekend of the summer so far for Atlantic City lifeguards, who logged 57 rescues, 17 of which occurred after normal guarding hours. No one was hospitalized during those incidents.
